How To Train Your Brave Tangled Guardians
by LoveLiveLaugh Forever
Summary: When Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel all die and become spirits, they meet the Guardians. The three plus Jack Frost become the Big Four. They're the only ones who can defeat a rising enemy, but when more problems are caused, things get complicated, and dangerous.
1. The Beginning of an Adventure

**Hi! So this is a story about the Big Four (Jack, Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel). I've written up to Chapter 17, so I'll update daily until then. Onto the story!**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Dreamworks or Disney. Is this really necessary?**

* * *

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third looked out from the cliff, watching the waves roll and crash onto the docks below. It was a fairly peaceful day, the sun shining, as if nothing could ever go on. Dinner was nearing, and the young Viking wanted to get in a flight before dark. Not that night ever stopped them; Toothless was a Night Fury after all. The dragon nudged him, not very hard but enough to almost not Hiccup off his feet, well, foot.

"Okay, Toothless, we'll go flying now." Hiccup promised, pulling himself up on the anxious Night Fury. They took off, now nothing but a streak in the sky. Hiccup was planning to go to the far side of Berk, opposite to the village. It was about 10 minutes at Toothess's full speed, so it averagely took them 20 minutes, considering the duo liked to stop and do tricks. About halfway there, clouds began to bloom in the sky and a sprinkle of raindrops began to fall.

"That's weird." Stated Hiccup, who was currently being doused in little specks of wetness. "Okay, bud I think we need to turn around and go back home." Toothless, whose ears were flattened to his head, jerked around, obviously in a rush. It wasn't long before the sun was wiped out and thunder crackled, lightning bursting in the sky. A boom ran through the air, and Hiccup knew that it wasn't from the lightning. A tree falling, most likely. That wasn't a good sign. Suddenly, something sharp scraped Hiccup's arm, drawing red liquid. He hissed and gripped the spot.

"Oh, Thor." He muttered. Ice shards fell from the black clouds, jagged edges protruding from the crystal. Hiccup did his best to swerve around, but the blades were almost microscopic, and it was impossible to know where they were until you got scratched. They ducked into the trees, which wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it for the most part it blocked the ice shards. "Come on Toothless we can do this!" Hiccup encouraged. "We're not going to die now!" They were almost out of the forest, and could make out the bright lights of the village. An ear-splitting CRACK filled the air, a tree falling right in their path. It came to quickly to avoid.

'Dad, Astrid, I'm sorry.' Hiccup thought. The tree came down on the dragon and his rider with a sickening thud. And then he thought no more.

* * *

Merida's situation was not one of the best to be in. Stranded on a snowy, narrow cliff that was slowly crumbling to dust with the slightest move. Yup, definitely not. Merida blew a stray red hair out of her eyes and tried to coordinate a plan. How did she even wind up in this predicament anyway? She had been riding on Angus, practicing her shooting skills, when she saw a wisp. She hadn't seen one of them since a year ago, when they led her to the whole mom turning into a bear thing. Her curiosity peaked, and she eagerly followed them to the edge of a cliff. Seeing nothing interesting, she turned Angus around, but before the horse could move a snake appeared in front of it. Angus had a panic attack and bucked. The impact threw Merida off him and over the edge, where she had luckily landed on a ledge. Angus had left, hopefully to find help.

She sighed. The ledge was barely big enough to hold her, and she growled in frustration as stray rocks and dirt rained on her head from above. Up there was sheer rock, with no ledges, and below a steep drop into blackness. It was all very frustrating to be honest, she conquered Mordu! Well, with the help of her mother. But she mended the seam! She couldn't be brought down by a little mistake. Ironically, when she ripped the tapestry it was a "little mistake". But still!

A flicker of fear nagged at the pit of her stomach. Merida tried her best to shrug it off, but it was something she couldn't shake. A portion of the ledge crumbled, and threw Merida off balance. A yelp escaped her lips, and she pressed against the cliff, trying (and failing) to stay as light as possible. A large gust of wind slammed into her, forcing her to stumble. Her body weight caused what was left of the cliff to fall along with her. She let loose a scream, the last sound she would ever make as she plummeted into the dark abyss, death waiting at the bottom.

* * *

A light mist of raindrops sprinkled over the kingdom of Corona, grey clouds coating the sky like colorless icing. A wave of depression had spread over its inhabitants. Their beloved Princess Rapunzel had fallen ill under mysterious circumstances. It started with drowsiness, then coughing, and now a fever. The King and Queen were desperate, sending for doctors all around, but the unknown sickness stayed unknown. Her fiancée, Eugene, was always with her, and only then did he understand what she felt when he had temporarily died. The feeling, the knowing, that somebody you knew and loved was dying, it was horrific. It left an emptiness inside. It made an imprint on everyone who had been through it. And it wasn't just Eugene and her parents, it was the whole kingdom.

The children she had played with so many times. The craftsman she had wanted to learn from. The guards who she had always thanked for their courage and sacrifice. The villagers she had made conversation with. The love and happiness she had always spread; it would all disappear with her. Her parents had just found her only to lose her, forever.

Rapunzel rolled her head to the side, and blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. When she finally focused, Eugene's concerned face came into view. "Hey," He said.

"Hey," She answered, enjoying the feeling of his hand stroking her brown hair. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, and she didn't like it. "So," She started. "I guess we've had a lot of encounters with death, haven't we?"

"Yep, I guess we have." Eugene answered.

Rapunzul let out a short laugh. "I mean, I almost killed you with a frying pan, you almost got pulverized at the Snuggly Duckling, we almost got chopped to bits by the guards and the ugly guys, almost drowned in the cave, you almost got hung, and for the sun's sake you got stabbed and died!"

Eugene smiled. "That was only in two days…"

Rapunzel blinked. "And now this. We're cursed I say. Cursed." She could feel her strength rapidly fading after her rant. "Love you, Eugene…" She said.

"Love you too." Her eyes began to close, and the last thing she saw was a frantic Eugene mouthing her name over and over. And then blackness engulfed her.

* * *

**Well that was depressing. Don't worry ROTG fans, all those characters will be in the next chapter. ~Jess**


	2. Finding the Spirits

**Forget what I said about updating daily. Rephrase. I'll update at LEAST once a day, be happy! Okay time for me to shut up. Onwards!**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Dreamworks or Disney (Obviously)**

"Something's coming, I can feel it in my belly!" North exclaimed in his heavy Russian accent.

"That's what you always say," Bunny replied.

"But I am always right, no?"

"Ugh!" The five guardians were gathered at North's workshop, where he had all abruptly called them. It had been a year since defeating Pitch, and Jack Frost couldn't be happier about being seen.

"Guys!" Tooth called, fluttering around. "Manny is trying to tell us something!"

North smiled and flung his arms out, emphasizing his point. "See? I told you. I am always right. Now, what does Man in Moon need to say?" They gathered around and waited in patience, while MIM made pictures, which North translated. "Three new guardians! They are the spirits of spring, summer, and autumn. Seasonal spirits! Like you Jack!"

"Wow," was all Jack was able to get out. "That's so cool!" Three figures rose up. One had what looked like unruly, red, wild hair, but it didn't compare to the one standing next to it. That one has blonde hair that went all the way to the ground, and big green eyes, with a sweet face. The last was one of a skinny boy, with auburn messy hair, also green eyes, who looked to be clever.

"Man in Moon says we need to find them, that one is Rapunzel, that one Merida, and the last one Hiccup." North stated.

"Hiccup?" Jack echoed. "What's up with these names?"

"It must be part of their culture or something." Tooth suggested.

"Strange cultures…" Bunny interjected.

"Shush! All of you. Manny is still talking. He says he has already told them who they are; they just became spirits and week ago, on the same day. The seasonal spirits, including Jack, have a very important destiny. Something is rising, that only they can defeat."

"Oh great." Jack said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "How are we supposed to defeat whatever it is?"

North continued. "He says you must figure it out. The new guardians will tell you their past, how they died, and their center. Now go get them. He left us a map." The moon's glow disappeared and a shimmery, golden scroll popped up, with a pink, green, and blue mark each on different locations, each one having a name and their season on it.

"Okay so we'll each go in different locations." Bunny ordered. "I'll get the blue mark, Tooth gets the pink, and Jack you get the green. North and Sandy can stay and get everything ready."

"Awe, how come you get blue?" Jack whined.

"Shut it, Frostbite. Let's go!"

"Okay," The guardians agreed, ignoring a very reluctant Jack, and they all set of in their different destinations.

* * *

Tooth fluttered her wings as fast as she could. Her, Bunny, and Jack had all used portals to get to their locations. Not exact, but close enough. She marveled at all the bright colors and pretty flowers, she was in an orchard after all, but this was good even just for that. Beautiful nature and cute wildlife was everywhere. Her excited eyes darted around, searching for the girl with the long blonde hair.

She exited the trees and saw a small clearing, which consisted of a tiny stream, flowers, and animals frolicking around a young woman who looked to be in her late teens. The girl looked up and Tooth froze. Her eyes, they were so entrancing. They were big and green and looked like she had been through a lot for her age. She regained her bubbly confidence and started to speak.

"Hi! I'm Tooth, the Tooth Fairy. So I know you're Rapunzel and you became the Spirit of Spring a week ago along with two other people so now I'm here because I'm one of the guardians and I'm supposed to take you back to North's workshop with the other new spirits and I'm just so excited Jack's a new guardian too and by the way I love your clearing it's just so pretty!" Tooth let out a breath from the longest run on sentence ever made. Rapunzel just stood there, probably not even understanding what she had said. She repeated herself, except slower and with more periods.

"Wait, so-" Rapunzel started to say.

Tooth waved a hand and cut her off. "We'll explain everything back at the workshop. Come on!" Not waiting for an answer Tooth grabbed her hand, created a portal and leapt through it, dragging the poor, confused blonde behind her.

* * *

Bunny appeared from the ground only to be doused in a layer of burning sun. It felt as if it were in the late 80°s. He shielded his eyes and spotted a thick forest, where he gladly hopped into. This is definitely the where the spirit of summer was. He had wanted to go find the spirit of spring, as it was his natural season, but he wanted to annoy Jack by picking blue even more. When they had to go get Jack, his peg had been blue, so Bunny knew the summer girl's color would change, since no two guardians can have the same color.

Jack's color was blue, North's was red, Bunny's was purple (don't insult him!), Manny's was yellow, and Tooth's was always changing, so fast that you could never tell which it really was. Bunny was assuming that Blondie would be pink, the lad that was named after that annoying bodily function that never seemed to stop would be green, and summer girl would most likely be orange, for her carrot-colored hair.

The pooca scoured the terrain for any signs of a girl with hair that would pop right out. After ten minutes he felt something graze the fur on his arm. "What the…" Another one sliced through the air, and he realized those things were arrows. "Crikey!" He darted off in the opposite direction of the arrow, running into branches and startling the wildlife. It dawned on him that could make a hole, and in the moment of panic he couldn't think. He tapped his foot and a hole opened, which he quickly jumped in to. He maneuvered it to find the redhead, eager to get away from the attacker. He would've fought him, but he had a mission, and Bunny didn't abandon his missions.

He popped up right behind a female with the fiery red hair he had been looking for. Her back was to him, and she had an arrow notched and ready to let fly. "Careful, you could hurt somebody." He stated. She whirled around and released her arrow. Bunny's eyes grew wide as he ducked in a nick of time. He glanced over his shoulder to see the arrow lodged tight in a tree. The redhead instinctively reached for another arrow only to discover that she was out. She let out a string of particular words from her colorful vocabulary.

Bunny held up his paws to show that he wasn't a threat. "Relax, I come in peace." Wow, he sounded like a space alien right about now.

Summer Girl raised her eyebrows. "You're a giant talking bunny! That's perfectly normal!"

"I'll explain later, now come on. Let's go." Bunny created a hole and gestured for Merida to jump in.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, and certainly not down there!" Red protested, mouth set in a defiant position. Bunny mentally thanked Sandy for the dreamsand he gave him; which the little man had claimed would 'severely help'. The rabbit had disagreed, thinking he could handle it on his own, but Sandy wouldn't stop pestering him until he took. He sure was glad now.

"Suit yourself." Bunny said. Quickly he grabbed some dust and sprinkled-more like soaked-the female with the sparkly flecks. She collapsed immediately. "Aww, great!" Bunny complained. "Now I have to carry her!" He wished he brought his kidnapping sack. He rolled his eyes, gathered up the sleeping Merida and not so gently tossed her over his shoulders, and stepped into the hole.

* * *

"Boy and his dragon, boy and his dragon, boy and his dragon." Jack repeated to himself. Before he left North had told him that this Hiccup guy had a dragon as a pet, but he didn't want to frighten the others. When Jack had exited the portal, he was greeted by snow. He was actually glad he took the green mark, it was the coldest and had snow! He was on a rock rising from the ocean, and could spot an island not to far away. He eagerly flew over and spotted some docks. From there he followed a path up to a village. Surprisingly, the streets were quiet. Normally there were at least some people out.

A soft sobbing caught his attention. Curious, he followed the sound to the back of a house. He saw a girl, hunched up in a ball with her head buried in her arms. The winter spirit walked to her side to get a better look. She had a short, blonde braid with a leather headband. Her attire consisted of a metal chain-link shirt with metal shoulder pads, and a red skirt adorned with skulls. Black leggings and fur boots.

Jack sat beside her, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. Obviously this village didn't believe in Jack Frost, since she couldn't see him. Jack stared at the horizon and then looked back at the blonde. She lifted her head up; her eyes were red from crying and tears streaked down her face. She had pretty blue eyes, which were currently waterlogged with tears.

"Why did you have to leave?" She murmured. "You never even said good-bye! How could you leave us like that?" Her voice was breaking now. "Curse you Hiccup!" Jack sprang up. Hiccup? That was who he was trying to find. This was his village of course, but it never dawned on Jack his village would be mourning. Who was this girl then? His sister? Cousin? Friend?

"You left Berk in depression!" Anger was rising rapidly in her voice. "All because you wanted to go on one stupid ride with Toothless!" Probably the dragon. "You left us here, Hiccup." She continued, her voice softening. "You ripped out pieces of a lot of hearts. Especially mine. I remember when I first kissed you, by the moon after you took me on a ride with Toothless. I miss you, Hiccup." Jack's own heart was aching for this girl's mourning the loss of a boyfriend. He wished he could comfort her, but he assumed she wouldn't believe in fun (or in him) right now.

"Astrid!" A voice called. Jack looked behind to see a big burly man with a long brown beard standing in the back doorway. "It's time to come inside for dinner."

"Okay dad." Astrid answered, wiping away her tears and scurrying back inside. Jack eyed the door as it closed, wishing he could do something to help. But he couldn't be seen, so he took off towards the woods to find Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" He called. "Hiccup! Dude with a dragon! We need to talk!" As Jack waltzed through the woods, he didn't notice the two pairs of alert green eyes peering at him through the bushes. A rustle found its way to the Winter Spirit's ears and he froze. "There's something behind me I know it." He said, slowly turning around. He gasped at the sight. A large, black shape standing on its hind legs with it wings out was staring at him. "Um, hi." Jack greeted nervously. The dragon roared and Jack sprinted off, the Night Fury following. It was a matter of seconds before it pounced on him, trapping him under the claws.

"Toothless stop!" A voice commanded. The effect was immediate. The beast stepped off Jack as he lay there, panicked and gasping for air. The boy crouched down and offered Frost a hand, which he gladly accepted. "Sorry about that." The boy apologized with a sheepish smile. "He's kinda protective."

"Kind of?" Jack echoed, giving a doubtful look.

"Very protective." Then the boy and Jack realized something.

"You're Hiccup?"  
"You can see me?" He asked.

"I'll explain everything later. But now we gotta get to the North Pole." Jack said, grabbing Hiccup's wrist. Hiccup drew back.

"Only if we take Toothless." Hiccup argued, mouth set in a stubborn line. Jack sighed, not willing to argue with the guy who had a dragon as a pet.

"Fine." He pouted, crossing his arms. "Let's go!" He said, opening the portal and gesturing for Hiccup.

"Uh-are you sure about that?" Hiccup said, ringing his hands nervously.

"Yea of course I'm sure." Jack assured.

"Okay…Come Toothless." The dragon sat on his haunches, not willing to move. Hiccup glared at him. "Toothless! I'm leaving you." Toothless refused to move. "Fine. I'm going it's your choice to follow." The Viking stepped up next to Jack. "Let's go."

"Are you sure he'll follow?" Jack whispered.

"Please. He wouldn't leave me for the world. Besides, I wouldn't be leaving myself if I wasn't sure." Hiccup answered, and jumped through the portal, disappearing to the North Pole. Toothless knocked Jack over and bounded in after him. The portal closed, leaving Jack behind. He had only brought one to get back, so he would have to take the long way.

"Oh come on!"

* * *

**Yay! They're going to the North Pole! And Jack got left behind. Awwww, poor Jack:( Review! **


	3. Meetings and Movies

10 minutes later, a very irritable Jack Frost trudged into North's workshop, arms folded and eyes narrowed. "Jack!" North scolded. "Where have you been? It's bad enough that they were the last ones to arrive," He motioned to Hiccup and Toothless. "They tumbled out and we waited for you, but the portal closed and what do you know? No Jack!"

"Well, excuse me. I only had to fly all the way here which-may I say- was a very long flight going at top speed!"

"Cool it, Popsicle. We've got business to attend to." Bunny claimed, knocking the Winter Spirit on the back of the head. Jack glared but stayed silent.

"Let's get started." North said.

"Oh I'm so excited!" Tooth exclaimed, giving a little squeal.

"WE KNOW!" All of the other guardians said.

Tooth put her hands on her hips. "All right, all right! What's got you all in a toothache mood?"

"Okay, settle down. This is going to be a long meeting…Jack get some chairs." Jack snapped his fingers and different style chairs arranged themselves in a circle; each had a nameplate on it. North's had a big, cushioned red chair with gold trim. Bunny's was gold with purple cushions, the rims decorated multicolored eggs. Tooth's was silver adorned with pearly white teeth (which Jack found slightly creepy). Sandy's was made entirely of gold dreamsand. Jack's was blue and dripping with icicles. Rapunzel's was woven out of trees and splotched with bright colored paint. Merida's was turquoise with gold stripes, and Hiccup's was made of black scales, with an orange fiery glow that shone through the cracks. Toothless curled around it, making it look even better. Everyone took their seats and looked to North, who began to speak.

"Now, new spirits of season, we will inform you of everything after you tell us your stories. Spirit of Spring, begin."

Rapunzel started her story, hesitant at first but then speaking. "Okay, well, for 16 years I was trapped in a tower. I didn't know it, but I was the princess of Corona. A thief came, we went on an adventure, and I discovered I was the princess. My hair got cut off, I reunited with my parents and the kingdom, got engaged to Eugene, and died one year later of sickness. I guess my hair grew back, only a little bit longer than the floor though, when I became a spirit." She finished.

"Wow, that was…abbreviated." Jack observed. Sandy made a smiley face over his head.

"Okay, Spirit of Summer, you're turn." North said. The redhead cleared her throat and began her story in her Scottish accent.

"Well, when I was young, a bear had bitten off my father's leg. My kingdom despised bears since then. When I was 16 I accidentally changed my mum into a bear. Barely, I was able to change my mom back and earn my freedom. A year later I died by falling off a cliff, and now here I am, seventeen, but I guess I'll be 17 forever now."

"Comments later, Spirit of Autumn, you go." North commanded. Jack shut his mouth, cutting off whatever he was about to say. North chuckled.

"Okay, well, I was 15 and my village hated dragons. One night I shot down a Night Fury and befriended it. We had to fight a giant dragon Queen until we killed it and fell into the flames. I woke up a week later after the fight to see Berk living peacefully with dragons. The End." Hiccup took a breath and slouched in his chair.

Hiccup smacked his forehead. "Oh, yeah, when I went down into the flames…I lost my leg." He pulled up his pant leg a little more to show his prosthetic foot. The guardians and spirits gasped. "Ta-da." Hiccup said without any enthusiasm.

"Oh Hiccup!" Rapunzel worried, hands flying to her mouth.

"Sorry, mate, we didn't realize-" Bunny started to apologize.

"Eh, it's okay. I'm used to it." Hiccup waved it off.

"You're missing a limb. Tell me how exactly is that okay?" Merida questioned.

"It was a year ago, I'm 16 now. It's common for Vikings to lose limbs; it's just rare for younger ones. Either way losing a leg was worth it for the dragons. Oh, and I died crashing Toothless in a freak thunderstorm."

They all gaped until Tooth broke the silence. "Okay, then. Now let's start with the movies!" She said.

"Movies?" Everyone but Tooth and North repeated.

"I'm the Guardian of memories, I can create movies with them too!" She explained.

"Wait, so, you mean you already knew their past?" Jack asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, silly! I have to meet them first!"

"So we could have just skipped that whole story-telling thing?" Hiccup clarified.

"Uh-huh!"

"Tooth!"

"Okay let's get started!" North said, yetis moving their chairs into a line.

"You will not believe how many times he's said that today." Jack murmured to Hiccup, who was sitting next to him. The Viking laughed and turned to the screen, which had just popped up.

"We will go in order of seasons, starting with spring and ending with winter." Santa said, taking his seat. He clapped his hands and 'Tangled' began. Highlights were all musical numbers, the thugs, and Mother Gothel. Tooth was crying when Flynn died.

Merida leaned over. "Do you always burst out in song at random moments?" She asked.

Rapunzel looked confused. "You don't?"

"Um-no."

Next was 'Brave'. Exciting parts included the wisps, witch's cottage, and the battle with Mordu. Tooth was also crying when they thought the mom would be a bear forever. Then came 'How to Train your Dragon'. Highlights of that included the scene where Hiccup untied Toothless, first flight where they almost went splat, and the final battle. And again Tooth was crying when Hiccup found out he lost his leg.

"That last battle was amazing!" Rapunzel gushed, and Hiccup found himself blushing at the compliment. Last was 'Rise of the Guardians'.

"I'm in this!" Bunny hollered.

"We know!" Jack responded, rolling his eyes. Favorite parts of that movie were the massive showdown between Jack and Pitch right after Sandy died, Jack's memories, and Sandy's rescue.

"Those movies were amazing!" Tooth squealed. Sandy nodded.

"Yes but now its center time!" North decreed. The chairs disappeared in a shower of gold. "Our centers are what we are and what we guard. My center is eyes that see the wonder in everything, and I am the guardian of wonder."

"I'm the Guardian of Memories!" Tooth piped up.

"Guardian of Hope at your service." Bunny stated.

The words 'Guardian of Peace' formed over Sandy's head.

"Guardian of Fun." Jack informed, his mouth set in a half-smile.

"So, Rapunzel, let's start with you." North said. "What do you like to do?"

"Uh, well, I like to paint and draw. My walls were coated in drawings in my tower." She said shyly.

"All right let's ask Man in Moon. Is Rapunzel's center creativity?" The moon's light shone through. "He says yes! Now we can swear you in as a guar- Manny's saying something else…he says that there are the original guardians, and the big guardians, which are the seasonal spirits. They are destined for greatness and only they can defeat a new evil. It wants us to swear them in this book, even Jack." A look of wonder came upon everyone's faces. A book popped up where the moon's light shone. Each corner on the cover was inspired by a different season. In silver lettering across the front it read: Seasonal Spirits: The Big Four-Destined For Greatness.

"Whoa cool!" Jack grinned.

Santa blinked. "If that's what Manny said it's true."

Bunny and Tooth protested. But North this is a big change!" Bunny argued. Sandy wagged a finger at both of them with shame.

North narrowed his eyes. "Both of you! We must not question Manny's actions." Tooth sighed.

"I guess you're right…" She agreed.

"Good, now Rapunzel, repeat after me. I, Rapunzel, swear to protect the children of the world with my life. I will do everything in my power to make sure they don't stop believing, and vanquish all evil. I accept my place in the Big Four as spirit of spring and Guardian of Creativity." Rapunzel repeated every word. "Rapunzel, you are now a guardian. We will cheer after."

"Merida! You're next! What do you like to do?" Tooth chirped.

"I already know what I am. Guardian of Bravery." She answered. North clarified with Manny and then swore her in. Hiccup was next.

"I like designing and making stuff, especially if it's metal. I was the apprentice blacksmith back at Berk. I was also one of the smartest Vikings there, but that's not hard, most Vikings aren't all that bright." He said. After clarifying, North swore Hiccup in as Guardians of Knowledge. A lot of cheering and hugs went around, making the new guardians feel very at home.

"We'll still have meetings together, right? And see each other?" Tooth asked, worried.

"Definitely." Jack answered. We just might be gone more."

North nodded. "There is much ahead of you four. You will have to be strong and stick together." The spirits nodded. "You know Hiccup, you remind me of Jack."

"I do?" Hiccup questioned, doubt clear in his voice.

"He does?" Jack echoed.

North nodded. "He gets into trouble a lot, except unlike Jack, he doesn't mean to." The others laughed.


	4. Settling In

**Hi! Whooo! New chapter! Yay! But guys? NO REVIEWS! Can someone please just be awesome and review? Because I seriously want to know if I'm doing okay on this story. Plus it only takes 10 seconds! Guests can review too. Okay I'll shut up now.**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Dreamworks or Disney**

* * *

Rapunzel looked around her temporary room in Santa's workshop. It was decorated with red and green everything, of course, it was Christmas colors, and she was at the place where Christmas was made. It was a fairly small size, and had a dresser, bed, and nightstand. A small glass window was on one side, the door on the other. She collapsed on her bed and tried to comprehend what had just happened. She was a seasonal spirit, the Guardian of Creativity. She had asked North a question.

"North," She had said. He turned to her expectantly. "I was just wondering, you said that people believe in us now that we're guardians?"

"Yes," North answered, adjusting a wreath on the wall.

"What about the people that know us? You know, like the ones we knew in our former lives?"

"Ah, yes! Good question. They will be able to see you, but they do not believe in you as Rapunzel the Guardian. If you showed up to anyone who knew who you were, they would know who you were once you said, 'I'm Rapunzel, Guardian of Creativity', they would know. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "Yes but what if someone else told them about me before I showed up to them."

"Well then they would think it's just a coincidence that you have the same name." North replied.

"Not many people have the name Rapunzel."

"Or Hiccup." Hiccup chimed in.

"Or Merida." The redhead piped up.

North sighed. "They would not make the connection. It might cross their mind, but they wouldn't believe it. You are dead after all." And with that he had sent them all off to their rooms with Tooth as a guide.

So now the four of them were going to go on this big adventure. Jack seemed like a fun guy, (he was the Guardian of it after all), but also mischievous. Merida appeared reckless and adventurous, with a rebellious spirit. Hiccup seemed quieter, but with all the things he did, she doubted he really was. Besides that, he seemed smart and sarcastic, but also brave. Okay way too much trying to figure people personality's out going on. She'd find out what they were really like later.

* * *

"Come on Toothless," Hiccup called as he entered his guest room. It was medium size (probably because of Toothless) and drenched in red and green. North had sprinkled some dust and said some mumbo jumbo over Toothless, and then announced he would be immortal too.

"Can you believe it, Bud?" Hiccup said as his dragon nuzzled him. "We're immortal. As in, living forever. Wow…" The Viking was still in a slight stupor after everything that had happened. He wandered over to the dresser and yanked a drawer open. A musty spell of candy canes and cookies entered air, causing Hiccup to cough and wave his hands around, trying to clear the dust that had also risen out. When he could finally breathe again and the smell wasn't overpowering, he peered into the drawer to see a stack of yellowed paper and five pencils. He snatched it up and dropped it on the bed, taking a hardcover book from the nightstand, which didn't have a title and contained blank pages. Somehow that didn't really surprise Hiccup.

He sat criss-cross-applesauce on the bed and took a paper from the pile and put it on the book. Toothless glanced over curiously before accidentally knocking over a tray of brightly decorated Christmas cookies, which he immediately ate. Hiccup sighed and grabbed a pencil, and began to sketch. It was a picture of Toothless at the cove, looking behind him at his new tailfin.

Hiccup remembered that day, when the dragon had flung him into the water after the first more or less successful flight. Toothless had paddled to shore, Hiccup not far behind, and had stared at his tailfin with an expression mixed with curiosity, joy, and suspicion. He smiled at the memory, but it quickly faded as he thought of the life he had abandoned. North had strongly protested against showing themselves to their families and friends. That meant he'd never see them again, Astrid…his dad…Thor! He would even miss Snotlout's rude remarks. Even if he could show himself, when they all…died, he'd be left behind. Forever.

A cold blast of wind knocked the door open. Hiccup's head flew up to see Jack Frost reach his hand in and knock. "Meeting!" He called, not stopping and continuing with his message passing.

"But we just had one 15 minutes ago!" Hiccup protested. Jack backtracked and reappeared in the doorway.

"Hey, I don't make the decisions! It's just that sometimes I don't go along wi-ugh. What is that smell?" The winter spirit wrinkled his nose. "It's like cookies and candy canes dragged themselves into a blender and didn't come back out until 500 years later." His attention was diverted from the odor when he noticed the paper in Hiccup's lap. "What's that?" He flew forward, peering over Hiccup's shoulder.

"Nothing!" Hiccup denied, clutching the paper to his chest, making sure the snoopy boy in his room couldn't see them.

"Aww, come on. Show me!" Jack pried. The auburn haired Viking stubbornly shook his head. Jack frowned.

"Okay, fine." He said sadly. He hopped off the bed and dejectedly turned away. Once he could sense Hiccup had partially let his guard down, he whirled around and snagged the paper with blinding speed.

"Hey!" Hiccup yelled, and grabbed for the paper, but Jack was already examining it. "Ever hear of privacy?"

"Ever hear of sharing?" Jack retorted.

Hiccup gave him a look. "Seriously. Sharing?"

"Shut it dragon boy. I'm trying to look at something." Jack looked at shading and detailed lines. "This is actually pretty good." He complimented, passing it back, which Hiccup hurriedly accepted, shoving it into a drawer.

"Thanks," He murmured.

"Was that when you were human?"

"Yea…" Hiccup looked down sadly.

"You've got a pretty epic story you know."

"Thanks. You do too. Not everyone gets to become the spirit of winter and battle the Nightmare King." Jack laughed.

"Well, not everyone gets to befriend a dragon a conquer a beast the size of a mountain." He said. Hiccup smiled.

"So I guess were all gonna be one big family. All the seasonal spirits."

"Yup." Jack nodded. "Brothers and sisters. And of course the other guardians will be family too. Like all the rest of the members."

"Uh-huh. One big family." Hiccup agreed. Jack could hear Hiccup's demeanor fading.

"Hey, don't worry about anything, okay little bro?" Jack comforted, slinging an arm over Hiccup's scrawny shoulder. "I know it seems tough now, but you'll love being a guardian

"Thanks Jack," Hiccup said. "But one thing. I am not your LITTLE brother."

" 'Course you are."

"There's no way you're any older than me!"

"I'm 300 years older than you!"

"That doesn't count!"

"Okay fine. I was actually 16 when I died. So, technically, we are the same age." Jack admitted. Hiccup smiled triumphantly but his smile vanished as something dawned on him.

"Wait, weren't we supposed to be meet with everyone else 5 minutes ago?" Hiccup said fearfully. Jack froze.

"Shoot! You were the last one I told and I was already 5 minutes late telling you!" Jack realized, face-palming himself. "They're going to kill us! I'm always late for meetings!" He grabbed Hiccup's arm and dragged him out the door, leaving behind a very interested Toothless, who came bounding after them.

* * *

**Typical Jack. Always late. Review! ~Jess**


	5. Powers

**Guys...I'm an idiot. You know how I said I didn't have any reviews? I actually do...They're just not showing up on the story, or at least on my computer. But then I checked my e-mail and it said I have reviews! YAY! Sorry about the confusion:( K, I'm going to do review responses now.**

**Guest-I made him the Guardian of Cleverness, honestly, because I couldn't think of a better word. I went back and changed it so it's all good now. As for the pairings there aren't any in this story except Rapunzel/Eugene and Astrid/Hiccup.**

**pitoae-Wow! Thanks! That really means a lot to me and I really appreciate it:) I'm glad you're enjoying the story!**

**Guest-Thanks! And yea, the beginning was sad:( I really like the ideas, maybe when the whole things finished I'll go back and add it in.**

**Moonpie-Thanks!**

**Guest-Haha, yup! And here's the next update!**

**Thank you so much for all your reviews! I'm sorry if I missed anyone, it's because my computer's being awful:( Can anybody tell me if their seeing reviews on the story? Cause if their not I think it's Fanfiction not my computer.**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Dreamworks or Disney**

* * *

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" North asked the two boys, arms crossed. "Tardiness is bad. On time! On time!" He through his hands in the air. Rapunzel and Merida looked like they were holding back loads of laughter, Bunny had a slightly annoyed expression on, and Tooth and Sandy looked amused.

"Okay," Tooth butted in, giving North some time to calm down. "So we need to find out your powers!"

"Powers?!" Rapunzel squealed.

"Yea, you need them." Bunny said. "So Firecracker, Blondie, Dragon Boy, Frostbite, get over here."

"Great. Nicknames." Jack complained. "Why do I have to come?"

"You have to help." Bunny said, leading them into a large, green room "Red, Dragon Boy, Blondie, you'll control your powers with sheer will. Now all of you, when you became a spirit you discovered you had powers, right?" They all nodded.

"Good. Rapunzel, demonstrate." Bunny ordered. Everyone stepped back, and Rapunzel held her arm out. She closed her eyes and curled her arm in and flung it back out. A shower of pollen flung from her hand; it must have been more than it looked like, because it coated almost the entire wall. Applause reached her ears and she smiled, relieved that she did it.

"Good job!" North complimented.

"Ya did well. So you can do anything with flowers?"

"Yes! And I can other stuff with nature." Rapunzel squealed.

"Good." Bunny said. Over the next hour, each seasonal spirit figured out their power. One of the yetis charted it all down.

Seasonal Spirit Powers:

Rapunzel-Spring-Creativity:

Season-Flowers, plants, vines

Merida-Summer-Bravery:

Season-Controls trees, branches and heat

Hiccup-Fall-Cleverness:

Season-Can control wind, leaves, and fire (Dragon ability)

Jack Frost-Winter-Fun:

Season-Can control snow, ice, and frost

"That was a wonderful session!" North applauded, looking at the chart. You all have seasonal powers-yes Hiccup?" Hiccup withdrew his raised hand.

"Does Toothless count as a weapon?"

North looked unsure of what to say. "Uh-no."

"Why?"

"Because he is your sidekick."

"Why don't I get a sidekick?" Jack complained.

"Because." North 'answered'. "Now Hiccup. Toothless may not always come with you on missions. He is not the guardian here, you are. I'm afraid we will not always be able to help you either. Man in Moon said that only you four could defeat what's coming." Anxiety rose in Rapunzel's stomach, as well as the others.

"We wish we could though." Tooth sympathized. "And who knows, maybe we can…"

Sandy nodded, his face grim. He made symbols above his head, and North nodded in agreement.

"Sandy's right. Our main goal is to protect the children, always keep that in mind." North reminded.

"So we just sit here until something happens?" Merida asked, distaste clear in her voice.

"Not necessarily…" Jack said slyly.

"Jack, what are you planning?" Tooth wondered, raising an eyebrow.

Jack grinned and let the wind pick him up. "I'm gonna show these three what fun really is!" With that he flew through the doors and out the window, with the other teens scrambling after him.

* * *

**Sorry it's short, the next chapter is going to be longer and the Big Four are going to have some fun! Don't worry though, action is coming up soon, and we'll find out who the villain is in a couple of chapters! ~Jess**


	6. Fun

**I'm even more of an idiot then I thought. I realized I had the setting for guest reviews turned off. So basically all guest reviews would wait 36 hours before appearing on the the site. Oops. That should not be an automatic option. So now I'm going to post another chapter to make up for my stupidity, lol.**

**pitoae-Guess it wasn't Fanfiction or the computer, it was me! Thanks for checking:) And here's the next update!**

**klesinszki14-Here it is!**

**Guest-I'm probably going to edit the story so there's more Toothless:) Not the chapters I've already posted but the future ones. Yea, I'm not really a fan of the Jackunzel or Mericcup. I like the original pairings because once I like a shipping, I always stick with it! Thank you so much for your awesome review!**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Dreamworks or Disney (I just realized isn't Merida part Pixar?) Great. Another thing to write. I don't own Pixar either.**

* * *

The three other teens burst through the giant front doors of the workshop, first coming Merida, then Rapunzel, and finally Hiccup. There was no sign of the winter spirit. The trio headed out farther into the white abyss until they came to a smooth, flat clearing, surrounded by trees.

"Jack!" Rapunzel called. The others began to echo her calls. Suddenly, something hit Hiccup in the back of his head, with enough to knock him off his feet and land face-first in the snow.

"Hiccup!" The girls cried, and rushed to help him up. But before they could, another of the mysterious thing hit Merida in the back, causing her to stumble. The blonde whirled around only to get a face full of-snow? A fit of laughter rang out. Hiccup clambered to his feet.

"Jack! Is that you?" He yelled.

"Indeed it is, Dragon Boy. Eat ice!" An icy wind came out of nowhere and snowballs came from every side.

"Hey!" Rapunzel laughed, grabbing a fistful of snow and chucked it at the nearest person, who turned out to be Hiccup.

"What was that for?" He shouted, grabbing some snow. He threw it at Rapunzel, who ducked, and it instead it Merida.

"Haddock!" She yelled. Soon everyone was pelting each other with snowballs. A figure emerged from the trees, sporting a blue hoodie. Jack joined in on the snowball fight, automatically getting pounded by mounds of frozen water. He put his hands in front of his face, trying to shield himself from the wrath of his new friends. He laughed, and using his winter magic, formed a snowball the size of a hot air balloon.

"You wouldn't," Hiccup dared. The snowball rose into the air.

Jack smirked maliciously. "Try me." With that the giant thing tumbled from the sky and on top of the three, who were standing close to each other. They were completely submerged in the frozen substance, and Jack didn't see any part of them sticking out. After a few seconds a head emerged. Red and curly hair; definitely Merida.

"I'm going to kill you Frost!" She yelled, but was having a tough time getting out of the snow. Next Hiccup surfaced.

"I hate you." Was all he said.

"Love you too, Bro!" Jack answered, wearing a cocky grin. Hiccup scowled. Rapunzel's head popped up, her golden hair dripping wet. She didn't say anything, just glared. Even though underneath the whole 'mad' act, each of them was holding in smiles and laughter, which Jack knew of course. He was the Guardian of Fun after all. Merida had finally wiggled out of the snow prison, and tackled Jack, jerking him out of his thoughts. While he was down she grabbed some snow and shoved it right at his face. Hiccup and Rapunzel had also writhed free and joined in on the 'let's hurt Jack' thing.

Soon all of them were laughing and attacking each other. By then Toothless came prancing into the area, watching the spectacle. Hiccup spotted his dragon and through up his hands.

"Now you show up? Where were you when I was getting smashed by a giant snowball?" He said. Toothless made a sound and cocked his head, which pretty much translated to: Not my problem. Eventually the Night Fury was joining in on the fun, and they got into a snowball fight with Merida and Jack on one side and Hiccup and Rapunzel on the other.

Jack grinned and looked to Merida. "Let's beat these guys."

Merida raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"You're forgetting who has the dragon on their side!" Hiccup called.

"What? No fair!" Jack yelled. Toothless sauntered forward, turned around and stuck out his tail towards the opposing team. Their eyes widened.

"You wouldn't..." Jack said.

Hiccup smiled. "Try me." He said, imitating the Winter Spirit. "Go Toothless!" Toothless fanned his tail back and forth into the snow, spraying it in the two Guardians' faces. "Yea!" Hiccup yelled, coming up by Toothless's head and petting him. The dragon smiled. Suddenly his still moving tail came around the still dancing-around Hiccup and knocked his feet out from under him. Bursts of laughter came from the others, and Toothless gave an innocent look, as if to say, 'That wasn't me'. Then Hiccup joined into the laughter as they began another round of what Jack called "Fun".

By the end of the day they came into the workshop in hysterics, chattering about the day and the fun they had.

"See?" Jack said. "I told you I knew fun." The others nodded eagerly.

"True, but tomorrow I'll show you my definition." Rapunzel stated boldly. Hiccup and Merida raised their eyebrows. Tomorrow would be one interesting day.

* * *

"Do we have to?" Jack complained as he stared at the piece of paper in front of him.

"Yes." Rapunzel said stubbornly. They were in Bunny's warren, much to his dismay. But somehow, the blonde had managed to get him to let her use a part of it, by a small stream and lots of flowers. There were four stools and four canvases, one for each spirit. Jack slumped on his stool and stared at the white sheet before him.

"Come on, it's easy!" Rapunzel encouraged. All of the paints, brushes, and pencils were scattered on a checkered blanket behind him. Jack took a pencil, Merida took some paint and a brush, Rapunzel the same thing, and Hiccup produced a piece of charcoal from his vest.

"Why do you have that?" Jack questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I always have it with me." Hiccup answered patiently. Jack shook his head and turned to his work. He began scribbling a stick figure that slightly resembled him, flying in the air looking down at the stick figures below. They were the kids at Burgess, one of them Jamie. He sighed contently and brushed his hands together.

"Done." He proclaimed victoriously, it was then he realized ten minutes had gone by. 'Maybe that wasn't that bad.' He thought. But of course he wouldn't tell anyone that.

"So am I." Merida said. Jack glared and she stuck out her tongue.

"I'm finished too." Hiccup agreed.

"Great!" Rapunzel squealed, clapping her hands. "Let's compare drawings!" She ushered them into a circle on the grass. Hiccup paled.

"I didn't know we were sharing them…" He muttered.

"Don't worry Hiccup! There's nothing to be ashamed of!" Rapunzel assured cheerfully. Hiccup murmured something inaudible. "So, Jack, why don't you start?"

"Um, okay…" Jack showed his drawing. "It's back at Burgess, and the kids there, and that's me." He informed, pointing to a figure with white hair, or at least, they thought it was hair.

"Jack, that's very…" Rapunzel trailed off, searching for something to say.

"Bad?" Jack offered.

"Inspired!" Rapunzel corrected, relieved she had come up with something to say. "Merida! You're next!"

Merida sighed and held up her painting. "It's a tree." She said, without any enthusiasm. To be honest, it wasn't that bad of a tree. Just the basic trunk with a green circle on top.

"Oh, how nice." Rapunzel said. "Any reason why you drew it?"

"Because it was easy."

Rapunzel looked unsure of what to say. "Okay, well, Hiccup! Your turn!" Hiccup reluctantly faced his painting to them to them.

"It's me riding on Toothless." He said. The painting was actually very well done. The backround was pink and orange, with faint white clouds. Hiccup was very recognizable in the picture, as was Toothless.

"Wow, Hiccup, that's amazing!" Rapunzel clapped.

"That's actually pretty good, Fire Boy." Merida complimented. Hiccup smiled.

"Thanks, and I thought I was Dragon Boy."

"You can have more than one embarrassing nickname."

Jack laughed. "Whatever you say, Flame Head." He said. Merida lunged for Jack, and in one swift motion banged her painting over his head. The delicate paper ripped, and Jack sat there stunned. There was silence for a few moments, until the painting fell off from Jack's neck by ripping some more.

"Well," Rapunzel sighed. "I guess painting isn't for everyone."

* * *

The next day it was Merida's turn. "Welcome to your haven of fun times!" She said. The four was also in Bunny's warren, except in a darker place with more trees. "These are your horses. Now get on." She instructed. Four horses came out of the shadows. One was her very own, Angus, one was Rapunzel's horse Maximus, one was copper colored, and one was white.

Rapunzel gave a cry of delight. "Maximus!" She called. The stallion came galloping over to her. He nuzzled her and she stroked his head. "I missed you! But you can't tell anyone you saw me, okay?" The horse gave what looked like a nod and she turned to Merida. "How did you-"

"Don't ask." Merida said. "It's a long story for every question. He has to go back to Corona though after this. I figured nobody would miss him."

"Thank you!" Rapunzel squealed.

Merida smiled. "So for today, we're going to ride horses and do archery, and do archery while riding horses."

"Doesn't that sound a little…complicated?" Hiccup said.

"You'll survive." Merida waved off. "Jack, you get the grey one; Hiccup, the copper one's yours. Now climb on." Jack flew on with ease, as did Merida and Rapunzel. Hiccup, however, had some trouble. After a few seconds of struggling to get on the tall horse's back, he finally clambered on-backwards. The girls watched with hidden grins. Jack stared with amusement.

"I so wish I had a camera right now!" He laughed.

"Shut up!" Hiccup protested, righting himself. "Give me a break, I've never ridden a horse before! I'm better with dragons."

"Oh, believe me, we've noticed." Jack smirked. The Viking ignored him.

"Okay, let's go!" Merida called, galloping off.

"So do we just follow her?" Rapunzel clarified. Jack and Hiccup shrugged, and they all rode off right behind her. There were plenty of obstacles, such as fallen trees and big rocks.

"Wooo-hoooo!" Rapunzel shouted gleefully.

"Are you sure this is safe!" Hiccup asked, terrified.

"I'm gonna beat you all!" Jack boasted confidentially. The four rode around, and without stopping, Merida reached into the pack on the side of Angus and tossed them each a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"I set up targets, try to hit as many as you can, then we'll come back and see how many stuck. Your arrows are each different colors. Blue, green, pink, and orange for me."

"I'm gonna so win this." Jack said, smugly.

"Ready…go!" She turned down a different path and began rapidly firing arrows, never missing. Rapunzel and Hiccup made probably half of what they shot, and Jack kept missing.

"I thought you said you were good!" Merida taunted.

"Be quiet, Flame Head!" Jack responded. The trail got rockier and harder to ride, not to mention shoot from.

"I don't really think this is the best idea." Hiccup said nervously. "This isn't saf-" SMACK! Hiccup ran right into an overhanging branch, which caught him in the face and knocked him off his horse.

Jack cringed. "That looked like it hurt." He observed.

"Hiccup!" Rapunzel called. The other three spirits came to a halt and circled back. "Are you okay?" The blonde worried. The dragon trainer moaned and sat up.

"I think you guys win the contest…" He groaned, and then flopped right back down.

* * *

**Well, they certainly had an interesting (and fun) couple of days, didn't they? And Hiccup isn't really having the best luck, lol. Review! And I turned on Guest reviews! ~Jess**


	7. Dragon Flying

**I'M SO SORRY! The chapter I just posted? (I deleted it already) It was for the other one I'm working on! I got them mixed up! So if you read the chapter you were probably really confused! SORRY!  
**

**AllieSnow-Thanks! That's a great idea, but unfortunately I think I'm too far into the story to add it in:( Thanks so much for the ideas though!**

**Moonpie-Yup, it's Hiccup's turn today! Thanks!**

**catgirl3899-Daily updates until chapter 17, I'm trying to get the whole thing finished though:) What does NYA mean?**

**Disclaimer-I've said this like 6 times! Not saying it again.**

* * *

"Finally something where I don't have a chance of getting seriously injured!" Hiccup rejoiced.

"Um, you can fall off a dragon. How is that not dangerous?" Rapunzel questioned.

"Because I actually know how to ride a dragon." Hiccup replied.

"That would be helpful." Jack chimed in. "So, where are we going?"

"Berk."

"What? Isn't that where you lived before?" Merida asked.

"Yea, but I just need to borrow a couple of dragons. So one of you can climb on Toothless, and the other can go with Jack." Hiccup said.

"I call Hiccup!" Both girls yelled, but Rapunzel got there first. She quickly clambered on beside him and held on to his shoulders.

"Oh come on!" Merida complained. Jack held out a hand and Merida reluctantly took it. Hiccup smashed a portal, courtesy of North, and flew in, Jack right on his heels. When they exited the portal they were flying over the ocean. An island came into view, and as they neared, they could see a village.

"To the cove, Toothless." Hiccup said. Jack was flying around in circles, at top speed.

"Can we switch?" Merida begged. Rapunzel shook her head and held on tighter to Hiccup.

"No way!" She laughed.

Jack pretended to glare at Hiccup. "Girl-magnet!" He shouted playfully. Within minutes they were at the cove. The other three gasped and quickly explored.

"Okay guys, stay here. You too Toothless." Hiccup ordered.

"What? No way! I'm coming!" Rapunzel protested.

"You can't leave me out of an adventure!" Jack argued.

"Fine." Hiccup sighed. "Toothless, I'll be back." The dragon looked mad but stayed as the spirits followed Hiccup. Soon they reached the edge of the trees. "Okay follow me, but be careful. We can't be seen." Hiccup said. The four crept around houses, and collided into Hiccup when he suddenly stopped. He made a quiet sign and peered around the corner. His dad was talking to somebody. A pang of sadness stabbed through him. The village had a gloom over it; it had been less than two weeks since he died. None of the usual chatter was going around, and his dad sounded so depressed. The other three seemed to recognize him from the movie, but Hiccup ushered them on.

They reached an open field. "This is where stray dragons are kept. They usually wander over here, so nobody will mind if we borrow them." Hiccup explained. He crept forward and put his hand on what the others recognized as a Deadly Nadder and a Zippleback, leading them to them.

"Merida, Jack, you each take a head of the Zippleback. Rapunzel, you've got the Nadder. Now we've just got to get them away without anyone seeing." He thought for a moment. "All humans get behind a dragon. We'll walk behind houses and if anyone sees them we'll be covered by them so they won't see us." The three seasonal spirits nodded eagerly.

They each did as they were told and soon made it back to the cove. A few people had seen the dragons, but dragons walking around was ordinary. Toothless ran up to Hiccup to greet him when they came back, but not before examining the other dragons.

"Okay, so each of you climb on your dragon." He instructed, waiting while they did as they were told. "You need to take it slow at first, you and your dragon work as one. While you're on you'll know what both of you are going to do. Toothless and me will demonstrate. Toothless is the only Night Fury we know of, and he's the fastest and smartest of the dragons, so he can do things that other breeds can't." With that Hiccup hopped onto his dragon and they took off like a bullet in the sky. After a few tricks they came down. "You guys try." He said. With some mistakes they were all in the air. Hiccup shouted some encouraging words, because even Jack looked terrified.

With each minute they grew more comfortable, and soon were laughing and whizzing through the air. They were above the ocean where rocks jutted up, and were flying a group. Suddenly Hiccup saw something. His eyes widened in realization when he realized what it was.

"Guys, we need to go now." He commanded.

"Why?" Jack stalled.

"Look over there." Hiccup said. It was four dragons all with riders, and they were flying towards them. "They're not supposed to see me! That's Astrid and the others!" A look of alarm dawned on everyone's faces. "I have the only known Night Fury, they'll know it's me. Split up, now!"

With a rapid speed the Night Fury took off, leaving the others to head away. Unfortunately Astrid was catching up fast, along with the others, who were determined to catch the strangers. Toothless was doing swerves and bounces, but they couldn't lose them. They also couldn't go back without running into them, but the duo didn't really have a choice. They backtracked coming above them; Hiccup looked down, and could see their faces clearly. Seeing them again comforted him, except then he realized they saw him! There was no denying it. They had gotten a perfect look at his face. Toothless was now going at top speed, and his old friends were in some sort of stupor from seeing him so it wasn't hard to lose them.

Hiccup searched and found his fellow spirits waiting for him in the forest, where he landed. "They saw me." He admitted.

"Oh great." Jack said sarcastically.

"It wasn't his fault!" Rapunzel defended him.

"I never said it was!" Soon it turned into a full-fledged argument. A minute passed, then five, then ten. They were practically screaming at the top of their lungs, their dragons watching patiently, until a voice called:

"Hiccup?"

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER! I just love them, don't you? Review! ~Jess**


	8. From Bad to Worse

**Hi! PLEASE READ! Anyone who read the chapter about Heather and Hiccup, ignore it! It was for my other story! I deleted it and replaced it with the right chapter, so if you didn't already, go back to the previous chapter and reread it. That's all. Okay, next chapter!**

**moonpie-Yup, they are! Thanks:)**

* * *

The four spirits froze and jerked their heads toward the voice. They looked to see the entire village, the old gang, Stoic, and Gobber at the front. So the villagers were looking at a boy with white hair, a girl with floor length hair, another girl with untamable red hair, and…Hiccup.

"Hiccup? Is that…you?" Astrid gaped.

"Oh great." Jack crossed his arms. "What are we supposed to say now? Your whole village is watching us!"

"Well, maybe, we could've bluffed until you just gave it away!" Hiccup argued.

"Oh please, they wouldn't buy that!"

"Boys!" Rapunzel called, putting a hand on each of their chests and pushing them away. "THEY'RE still here!"

"Oh, yeah." Hiccup remembered. "Hey…guys…I'm not dead!" Astrid was the first to rush forward, dropping the shocked expression, the rest of the gang mimicking her. She punched him, forcefully, in the arm. Then kissed him, hard.

"You're alive!" She gasped. The village erupted in cheers, and Hiccup made a weak attempt at a smile. He was getting tons of other hugs from his friends when suddenly Hiccup was lifted in a bone-crushing hug that could only be from his dad.

"Son! Where have you been?" He demanded to know. The whole village was intent on listening to his answer. Hiccup glanced back.

"Should I spill?" He asked.

"Go ahead, can't lie to them now." Jack said.

"Okay well, get comfortable, this is going to be a long story. Jack, you wanna start from when you became a spirit?"

"Sure, why not?" From there Jack explained how he had saved his sister, died, and became a spirit. Then he told them about the whole guardian thing and what had happened there. Then Hiccup explained how he became a spirit and the whole seasonal spirit deal. And of course how there was a major villain out there that only they could defeat. The whole telling took at least an hour, and when they finished the village gaped.

"So…you're not staying?" Fishlegs asked sadly. They shook their heads, and Hiccup was about to speak when something spoke for them.

"No, I'm afraid he won't." A raspy voice said. The sky suddenly darkened, and all the trees within 200 feet of them vanished. "He has some…other business to take care of." A sinister laugh echoed around.

"This is it, isn't it?" Rapunzel said, scared. "The thing we've been waiting for."

Jack nodded. "And something's telling me this battle won't be our last with it."

"The Big Four! Wait a minute, hang on, we can't have anyone interfering!" A wall of blue light separated the dragons and Vikings from the four teens. It turned white and than clear, so it looked like it wasn't there. "That's better! A nice boundary!" Someone from the other side knocked on it, but it really was a wall. "Don't worry, it doesn't block sound and you can see right through it! Don't want you to miss the show! Let's resume now, shall we? Big Four! So nice to finally meet you!" The voice came from all sides. "You THINK you're so big and powerful."

"I THINK you have mental issues." Jack smirked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Between you and me I think it might be a little more severe than that." Hiccup joked. They both laughed, when suddenly an exploding pain burst in their heads. Jack clutched his skull and Hiccup dropped to his knees.

"I wouldn't mess around with me, boys. I'm inside your head. Jack, remember when you died? I bet you do…you left your family behind. They hated you for it. Nobody likes you; you're just a trickster who doesn't do anything to help. Nobody needs you. Nobody wants you!"

"Stop it!" Jack choked out, trying to block the awful voice.

"Awww, all right Jackie. I'll taunt you later. But Hiccup! What a sad childhood! The village screw up, always was, always will be. You defeated the Red Death, that's the only reason people actually paid attention to you! Your own father disowned you, you never made him proud. Always wanted to, never did. You are a worthless, lying, deceptive traitor!"

"No, no, no, no!" Hiccup hissed, breathing fast. At of the corner of his eye he could see the Vikings rapidly shaking their heads, and in the state of confusion he couldn't tell what it meant.

"Alright fine. If you two just can't stand hearing your own faults…" The pain disappeared and left them on the ground, gasping for breaths. Rapunzel and Merida quickly helped them up.

"What's going on?" The blonde asked, frantic. "How is he doing this?"

"This isn't a normal monster." Jack responded. "It isn't a Pitch, or a Gothel, or a Mordu, or a Red Death. It's something worse."

"That's right Spirit of Winter; Guardian of Fun. I am from the depths of your mind. I am a shape shifter!" It yelled, power radiating from its voice. Fog rose from the direction they were facing. A figure emerged, wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled down. Slowly it revealed its hood, to show…nothing. It had no face, just skeletal hands and glowing red eyes. A fearful gasp spouted from each guardian, which just made the thing laugh, an eerie sound.

"You thought you knew fear! I am fear itself! I am Fear, the deadliest most terrifying creature!" It yelled. I carry your weakest moments with me. Winter, when your staff broke, Spring, when you were witnessed that thief you loved about to die, Summer, when you were trapped under Mordu's claws, Autumn, when you were falling into the flames. Each memory shot a shudder through its owner's spine.

"Drop dead," Hiccup said defiantly. Fear turned and sent a cascade of what looked like dark smoke flying towards him.

"Die Viking!" He shouted.

"No!" Rapunzel screamed, while the others gaped with horrified expressions. Just as the thing was about to hit him, a blast of fire flew from Hiccup's hands, colliding with the blast of darkness. Both fire and darkness disappeared with a shower of sparks. There was a shocked silence.

"Oh yea!" Jack hollered. "That was friggin awesome!"

"Thanks." Hiccup said. "But…I think we should attack right about now." And with that they charged, using their powers. A magnificent, blinding, streak of flowers, frost, and fire hurled right at him. It hit Fear right in the chest knocking him backwards. The temperature rose at least five degrees, and a tornado of wind swirled around. Fear rapidly picked himself up.

"This was supposed to be a preview." He growled. "But I guess we can do a battle now!"

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**Ta-da! And there's our villain! Review! ~Jess**


	9. Fighting Fear

**Hello! Another update just for you! A lot of great reviews, much appreciated!**

**Sarrah-Wow, thanks so much! That means a lot to me! And don't worry, I'm not stopping this story!**

**Guest-Omg, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! There aren't any pairings except for AstridxHiccup in this section and RapunzelxEugene in the first chapter:)**

**jazzycat08-Thanks!**

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With one wave of Fear's hand a wave of multiple creatures came out. They were coal black and had glowing red eyes, and they were just as tall as Jack. The creatures ran on all fours, and resembled a mountain lion, with sharp claws and razor blade teeth.

"Do you girls wanna take the minions and me and Hiccup get Crazy Guy?" Jack suggested.

"Sure, why not?" The girls agreed. The Spirits of Winter and Autumn dashed forward toward Fear. Jack catapulted himself over Fear and attacked him from behind, while Hiccup got the front. It was endless dodging and striking, and they were getting tired, but Fear only seemed to be getting stronger.

Meanwhile the girls were doing fairly well. Vines up rose from the ground and tangled the creatures, courtesy of Rapunzel, while Merida shot arrows everywhere, and crushed the minions with trees that erupted out of the ground and then fell on top of them. The redhead aimed her hands toward one and it exploded in a poof of black dust.

"Cool! How did you do that?" Rapunzel asked, manipulating a vine to strangle a creature. Merida shrugged before launching another arrow.

"Heat powers I guess, it's not exactly flame powers like Hiccup, but they can't take it."

Rapunzel smiled. "Well it works!" Merida laughed, but something caught her eye.

"Duck!" She warned. Instinctively Rapunzel did, and a creature sailed over her head. A branch appeared on the spot right away, and the minion rammed into it, impaling itself. "Well that looks gruesome." Merida stated, staring.

Rapunzel nodded. "I owe you."

Merida waved a hand. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the chance during the next battle."

* * *

A blast of dark whatever it was scraped Jack's arm as it flew by. Jack hissed; it was incredibly hot, and being a Winter spirit didn't really help his case. He ignored it and shot an ice dagger at Fear, but he leaned to the side and it narrowly missed him. A gust of wind spiraled out of nowhere and about blew the enemy over, but he stood strong. Hiccup raised his arms, and leaves appeared and hovered in the air. Using his other hand, the leaves burst into flames, creating a giant flaming ball of fire. Reds, oranges, yellows, and even a couple streaks of blue flickered through the flames, making it deadly beautiful. Jack stared in awe and saw the Vikings were too. Huh, he had forgotten about them. The fireball hurled itself at Fear, who turned around just at that moment. It rammed into him, lighting his robes on fire. He danced around trying to extinguish them, which actually looked really funny. When he had gotten rid of most of them (minus the flames at the end of his robe), he wickedly turned toward the dragon trainer.

"You'll suffer, Viking." He spat, waving his hand. A dark tendril rammed into the small spirit, sending him flying. There was a sickening thud as his back colliding with the invisible barrier, 20 feet above the Viking's heads, much to their horror. Gasps arose from the spectators. Gravity quickly pulled Hiccup down, and he hit the ground hard, rolling a couple turns before lying on side, not moving.

"One down." Fear smiled. The girls looked over to Jack. The creatures wouldn't stop coming, and he was being overpowered. This was not going well. While the winter spirit was still in a stunned stupor over what had just had happened, Fear took the opportunity to send another dark blast toward him. It sent him reeling right into the wall; he would've smashed into the Vikings if the barrier wasn't there. He sat on his butt leaning against the force, dazed from to blast. He could, however, process the fact that Hiccup's village looked slightly unnerved by the sight that they were losing badly and couldn't do anything to help.

Jack groaned before starting to crawl on all fours toward his fallen friend. It seemed to take forever, even though Hiccup was only five feet in front of him. He shook the Fall spirit's shoulder, which got no reaction. Jack sighed, and then punched him in the arm.

"Get up!" He commanded. Hiccup sat straight up.

"Huh? What happened?" He said groggily.

"We got slammed into a wall." Jack responded. "Now slap me so I can enter the world of the living."

"No way."

"Fine." Jack said, and slapped the Viking hard. In automatic response, Hiccup slapped him too, harder than he expected. "There, now we're both living. Now let's go kick some butt."

Both boys stood up, only a little shaky. Hiccup ignored the dizziness and fought the urge to throw up. Fear strolled toward them, brushing his hand against the boundary, scaring the poor Vikings. "Not so brave now are you?" He taunted them. Hiccup felt a need to defend his people, and an anger rose. A fire seemed to bubble in his stomach and he felt his fists clench. Jack looked over and his eyes widened.

"Wow. Your eyes." He said. They were blazing, as in Jack could see fire flickering in them. "Does it happen when you get mad?" Hiccup shrugged.

"It's never happened before. Aren't you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because this thing is threatening all of us, including you." Jack realized that Hiccup was right. Fear was trying to kill him and his new family. That was not allowed. Soon Jack had the same anger and felt his eyes turn icy and unforgiving. He was pretty sure everyone could see it. They both had completely black holes for eyes, with flames and ice dancing in them. Fear looked slightly unsure of what to do. The two spirits moved towards him, and he backed away, and they guessed they looked pretty threatening. They were now in the center of the field, voices echoing around. Fear regained his confidence and blasted them, but they dodged.

Fire rose all around Hiccup, it had to go as high as fifty feet in the air. Jack summoned snow and ice that rose to the same height. All of it plunged toward the enemy.

"It's not over!" He warned before vanishing. The fire and ice exploded on the ground. Rapunzel and Merida finished off the remaining creatures and darted over to them.

"What was with your eyes?" Merida demanded to know. The spirits shrugged.

"We just got mad…" Hiccup answered. Merida raised her eyebrows as if she thought there was more to it, but didn't say anything else. They examined each other's battle wounds. Rapunzel looked pretty good, just a few minor scratches; Merida's condition was the same, besides a large scratch that ran from her elbow to her wrist that was oozing blood. Hiccup had a gash on the side of his head above his ear, probably from the fall, which caused streaks of blood to stain his hair and run down the side of his face, along with a nasty sized bruise. Jack had a pretty good-sized burn on his arm, and his ankle was twisted at an awkward angle, and scratches decorated his arms.

"Well, we must be a sight…" Jack commented.

"Believe me, you are." A female voice said behind Hiccup. It was Astrid, with the whole village behind her.

"What was that thing?" Snotlout asked, still recovering from Fear's, well, fear.

"It already told us." Hiccup said.

"He was to busy being scared that the big bad monster was going to get him to notice." Ruffnut smirked. Snotlout glared at her, and she stuck out her tongue in response. Suddenly the crowd was shoved out of the way as something barreled past them. Toothless leapt onto Hiccup and they somersaulted before Hiccup was sprawled on the ground with his dragon on top of him.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm bud, but could you get off me?" Hiccup asked, pushing the Night Fury off and sitting up.

"That did not help my headache." He said honestly. Rapunzel grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet.

"He's just excited to see you…" She said, petting Toothless on the head. He licked her cheek and she laughed. "Awww…he's so cute!" She cooed.

Jack ignored them. "As for your question, that was Fear, a shape shifter." He explained, creating a piece of ice. He pressed it to his swollen ankle and Rapunzel created a vine that magically tied it in place. Hiccup caused leaves to press against everyone's wounds that were bleeding. Jack gave snow for all bruises; and Merida used branches to set all sprained and broken bones. The Vikings watched in shock as the guardians tried to fix each other's wounds.

"This isn't gonna cut it." Merida said, slinging Jack's arm around her to help him walk. "Jack's ankle is really swelling and Hiccup looks like he's about to pass out."

Rapunzel nodded. "I agree. Say your good-byes Hiccup, we've gotta go. Now where did I put the portal?" She murmured to herself, turning away.

"It's in Toothless' satchel I think." Jack answered. The three of them began to dig towards the bag that was strapped to the dragon, and Hiccup turned to his tribe. Astrid's lips crashed into his, and he couldn't really say he minded.

They broke away and she asked, "When will you be back?"

"I'm not sure if I will…things are hard to promise when you're a guardian." Hiccup said sadly. He moved to each person he was close with. "Ruff, Tuff, try not to kill each other." He said. They grinned maliciously.

"No promises." They answered simultaneously, and then glared at each other.

"Fishlegs, keep learning about dragons. Who knows what other breeds are out there."

"Of course, Hiccup." He squeaked, blinking his eyes to get rid of the tears that were pooling.

"Snotlout, you're finally gonna be chief. I think you'll do great," Hiccup complimented.

"Wait what?" Snotlout was confused.

"Well I certainly can't be chief anymore."

Snotlout seemed to be processing this. "Oh. Thanks, cuz. I still wish you would stay though."

Hiccup smiled and moved on to Gobber. "Thanks for always being there. Keep taking care of those dragons."

Gobber 'patted' him on the back. "I'll miss you, toothpick." He said, wiping a stray tear.

"Hey, Toothpick! That's a good nickname!" Jack piped up. Hiccup rolled his eyes. Now for his dad.

"I'll miss you dad." He said. The chief enveloped his son in a brief hug.

"Hiccup, I just want you to know I'm so proud of you." His dad said.

"Thanks dad." He moved over to Astrid. "Astrid, you're in charge of the dragon academy. Keep the peace, okay?"

"Always." Astrid answered, before kissing him one last time.

"I'll miss you Astrid."

"I'll miss you too Hiccup." With that Hiccup joined his friends at the portal. The other spirits all jumped in before the Viking looked back one last time, then moved to jump in.

"It's a good thing he's finally gone." Mildew grumbled. As Hiccup walked into the portal he flicked his hand and Mildew's pants caught on fire. The last thing he heard was his surprised screams, and the portal closed behind him. Mildew hurried and ran off to who knows where, while the Vikings bowed their heads in silence. Suddenly the portal reappeared and out came Hiccup.

"Sorry! I forgot Toothless." He explained. The Night Fury darted to his rider and looked offended for being forgotten. "Bye…" He called with a wave, before entering the portal. That was the day when the village of Berk watched their hero leave with sad eyes.

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**And that concludes the last of Berk's appearances! At least I think so...I'm not that far yet, but I don't think they'll show up again. Maybe. Never mind. Review! ~Jess **


	10. Secrets

**Next update! No reviews:(**

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"Ow!" Jack winced as the Tooth bandaged his ankle properly.

"Suck it up," Bunny said. Over the past few days the guardians had spent together they had bonded a lot. They had spent the evenings and mornings together, which resulted in everybody caring about each other a lot. The newbies warmed up to everyone quickly, and in a matter of time they cared just as much for them as they did Jack. So of course, they were all shocked when the four seasonal spirits waltzed in sporting blood, bruises, and very tired faces. All the adrenaline had faded and they were beat up and exhausted. Hiccup had passed out ten seconds after stepping out of the portal.

"Guys, the room's spinning…" Hiccup claimed wearily, before collapsing to his knees; Rapunzel barely catching him.

"What happened?" Tooth asked frantically, slinging the limp Viking's arm over her shoulder and taking in the sight of them.

"Fear happened." Jack answered tiredly, his usual cockiness gone.

"Fear? That's who's been rising? This is worse then I thought…" North said, shaking his head. "Never mind, tell us later. We have to get you four taken care of."

"He's right about that," Bunny agreed, taking Hiccup's other arm and gesturing to him. "How'd this happen?"

"Got slammed by some of that dark stuff into an invisible barrier way up high. Hit the ground pretty hard." Jack explained. Tooth flinched, mentally seeing the image. Sandy made arrows that pointed to the other three seasonal spirits, as if to say, 'What about you guys?'

"Just scratched and bruised, and Frost has a burn on his arm." Merida said.

"And a ankle injury." Rapunzel added. "I'm going to bed." She stumbled off to her room, hitting a wall a few times.

"Me too." Merida agreed, following. Sandy moved forward, replacing Bunny holding Hiccup's other arm.

"Sandy and I will take care of Hiccup." Tooth stated, and she and Sandy flew off, an unconscious Viking between them. When they were gone, North turned to the one remaining seasonal spirit.

"Tell me everything." He demanded. "I want details. Phil, go get the medical supplies." Phil scurried off and soon returned with a white box. Jack collapsed in one of the big red fluffy chairs by the fireplace and blew his messy white hair out of his eyes. Except it wasn't really white anymore, it was a mix of blood and dirt. And that lead up to the present moment. Tooth was wrapping Jack's swollen ankle, Bunny and Sandy stood stiffly, deep in thought, while North was pacing nervously as Jack explained the whole story.

"So then Fear when all cycho on Hiccup and tried to kill him. But Hiccup totally blasted him with this stream of fire! And then Rapunzel and Mer took down the minion thingys, and Hiccup and me challenged Fear. And our eyes turned all weird, like dark, and Hiccup's had fire in them and mine had ice…" Jack usual peppiness had returned, and he went on and on about certain things and how they had totally creamed Fear. When he had finally finished, the other guardians stood there, astonished. North massaged his temples, obviously put out with the ordeal.

"Thank you for telling us Jack, you can go rest now." North said. Jack hopped up onto one foot, careful not to jostle his damaged one.

"Okay, see you in the morning." He said, and flew off to his room. It was then the other Guardians looked out the large window, spotting the setting sun. The day had gone by faster than they expected, and with all the commotion no one had bothered to check the time.

"We'll have to talk about this tomorrow." Bunny said.

Tooth nodded. "When they're feeling better."

North sighed. "I just didn't expect the attack to come so soon. We shouldn't have let them go out on their own."

"Yes, but that only would've stalled it, not prevented it. It would've come eventually." The Tooth Fairy said. "We couldn't have done anything to help, anyways. Manny already told us that it was much to strong for us." Sandy nodded, and made symbols that read, 'The important thing is that they're alive and okay'.

"You're both right. We've got to accept the fact we can't help them, no matter how much it pains us." Bunny chimed in.

"We'll talk to them tomorrow about all this. Especially the about the dark eyes." North planned.

Tooth paled. "You don't think it could be-"

Bunny cut her off. "That's only happened once! A millennia ago!"

"It was bound to happen sometime." North said.

"To both of them?" The Guardian of Hope looked doubtful.

North sat down on one of his chairs. "Those two are very special, all of them are. But I can't think of anything else that would explain it."

"Then we have to find a way to fix it! To get rid of it!" Tooth cried.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow, when all of us are here." North said firmly. "You three should probably go back now. Sandy, Tooth, there are children to take care of, and Bunny, get some rest or paint some eggs. I am going to go think about this for a while. I'll send out the Northern Lights when all of them are up and ready. Goodnight."

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**Sorry it was short! But something's up? You'll have to wait to find out what it is;) ~Jess**


	11. Complications

**Wow, a lot of reviews on the last chapter! I guess suspense and mystery really makes people want more!**

**InspireYourselfAndLive-Thanks so much! I'm so glad your enjoying it!**

**Kitsunakatsuma-Thank you!**

**jazzycat08-Thanks! You'll find out what's going on in this chapter;)**

**Guest-There's always that "for now" part! Yea, it's sad:( Here's the update!**

**Sarrah-Wow, thank you! :D**

**Guest-You'll find out in this chapter:)**

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It was a little past noon when the Lights were sent out. One by one all of the spirits filed in, starting with Merida, who arrived just before noon. Then Rapunzel, who came a little after, then Jack, who had always been a late sleeper, and finally Hiccup, with Toothless by his side and a bandage on the side of his head. Their personalized seats appeared, and each took it. All of them had vivid dark circles under their eyes and messy hair, and moved like zombies.

"How are you all feeling?" North asked in his Russian accent.

"Tired." Rapunzel answered.

"Achy." Merida replied.

"I've been better." Jack told.

"I have a headache." Hiccup confessed. North laughed.

"Well I would think so! You all had quite the day yesterday." North chuckled.

"It's not fair." Hiccup complained. "How come you guys got to have perfect fun days, but when I have mine we end up getting attacked by a psychotic shape-shifter and his tiger minions?"

"I guess fate likes us better." Jack smiled.

"No kidding." Hiccup groaned, slumping deep into his chair. Suddenly the fluttering of wings sounded. Tooth and a few of her fairies flew in through the window.

"Hello!" She chirped cheerfully. A rumble came from below and a hole appeared in the center of the circle of chairs, a rabbit hopping out. The hole closed, but the split floorboards and damaged rug remained.

"Bunny! How many times have I told you do not appear inside the workshop! You're supposed to come in from outside!" North scolded, examining the damage.

"It's freezing out there!" Bunny objected, gesturing to outside.

"My workshop is more important than you getting a few goose bumps! Go back to your Warren and come back the right way."

"What? No!"

"Do not make me kick you out." North crossed his arms. The rabbit huffed and marched through a door, leaving it open hanging open. The Guardians watched him disappear into the ground and turned back to each other. A burst of gold dust appeared in the air and Sandy made his entrance. He floated down to the floor and took his seat, waving. Then he realized everyone was here except for Bunny, and made a rabbit symbol and a question mark. Everyone pointed to the mess in the center of the room, and the Sandman smiled and nodded, as if he knew exactly what had happened.

"Phil!" North called. "Clean this up!" The head yeti waltzed in with some cleaning supplies, and within seconds it was repaired. The Easter Bunny walked in glaring and took his seat.

"Happy?" He asked North. Santa nodded.

"Very. Now down to business. Jack has told us everything that happened, and we would to explain everything we know to you. Tooth, would you like to start?"

Tooth nodded. "Fear is the oldest villain out there, and by far the most powerful. He's just as old as Sandy is, and knows things that even we don't. The only way we know who he is is because of Sandy. They were one of the first to be selected as spirits, and when they first transformed, they were best friends. They were both new at the whole thing so they stuck together and helped each other. Then something happened.

Bunny continued with the story. "There's always a little darkness in everyone. At the beginning of time, Manny had a little darkness inside him, but somehow, it leaked out into the universe. This darkness can do terrible things. It's a tiny piece, and is just enough to have an effect on three people. The first and so far only person was Fear. The darkness touched him, and buried itself deep in his heart. It's a long process, but slowly Fear began to resent things and people, like Sandy. He became jealous of everything, and felt coldness towards everyone, especially Sandy. He became more powerful, and eventually turned to pure darkness."

North told the rest. "That's what the darkness does. It looks for special people and then slowly turns them into nothing but evil. It makes them crave power, and their powers grow until they are one of the strongest. They turn against everyone, especially their closest friends and relatives. When Fear became completely dark and evil, there was no other option but for the other spirits to cast him into an oblivion. He was threatening the world, he was threatening the children. And now he's finally return, and his lust for power and revenge is stronger than ever. He does have the darkness of Manny in him after all. That's why you're here, to help stop him, except something has gone wrong. Something that wasn't a part of the plan. There is still two people left that the darkness has yet to fill. There are…symptoms, which let us know. We were hoping to stop it before it could do harm to anyone else."

"Why do I seem to not like where this is going?" Rapunzel stated nervously. North looked at her sadly.

"Jack, Hiccup, we are afraid the darkness has chosen you."

* * *

"What?!" Jack cried in shock, jumping up on his chair. Merida gasped, and Rapunzel let out a horrified sob. Hiccup just sat there, stony-faced and in shock.

"So…we're going to…turn out like…Fear?" He choked out.

"Everyone calm down!" North ushered them back into their seats. "We need to be sure. Jack, Hiccup, you did say your eyes turned black right?"

Jack nodded. "Our powers were flickering in them."

"They looked really menacing…scary almost." Rapunzel said honestly.

"Wait a minute, is that why Fear's eyes are pits? Because they kept changing like that so often they eventually stayed that way?" Hiccup wondered, shaking off his stupor. "And the way our eyes turned into pits and he looked unnerved, it was because it was a reminder of his past or something, wasn't it?"

"Very good, Hiccup." North praised. "That is all true."

"No wonder he's the Guardian of Brains." Jack commented.

"Have you two ever felt darkness in your lives?" Bunny asked.

"I have." Hiccup admitted. "My village thought I was a screw-up and useless, and I tried to deal with it and be optimistic, but every so often I'd just think about how I was mistreated and under-appreciated, how nobody deserved to have me around."

"So have I," Confessed Jack. "When I was alone for that 300 years, I had some fun times, but I thought that it wasn't fair to put me here for no reason. I got mad at Manny because he didn't tell me anything, and because I was alone. I thought if I were in charge, I'd make sure everyone was happy and had fun."

The Guardians wore forlorn faces. "The darkness was probably around you then, watching you, making sure you were the perfect victim. It can't mess up, since you two used it's last two pieces of darkness." North proclaimed sadly.

"But we won't let it overcome you. We're going to finish it before it finishes you." Tooth promised, determined.

"Yea, there's no way we're going to let anything get to our friends." Merida said, eyes gleaming.

Bunny nodded. "The darkness may have destroyed Fear, but we're not going to let it destroy you."

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**Dun-dun-DUN! They are not having the very best luck are they? They have to deal with Fear, and now on top of that have to find the cure (If there is one) to the Darkness. Complications! Review! ~Jess**


	12. The Darkness Takes Its Toll

**Sorry I missed yesterday! I slept till 11 and then headed straight to play practice, and then went to visit with relatives after and didn't get back until 10.**

**jazzycat08-Thanks:D!**

**Moonpie-To be honest, I completely forgot about him! I guess I thought of him more of the King of Nightmares. But you're right! I think it's to late to go change it, considering I've already have Fear's character development and everything. So I guess just kind of ignore Pitch. Sorry, and thanks for telling me!**

**Rowen A. Jones-Ohhhhh. I didn't know what he was at first:) Thanks!**

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The next couple of weeks were all train and no play, much to Jack's distain. Everyone was tense and on edge, not knowing when Fear would strike next. The Original Four stopped their holiday work and left their helpers in charge, dedicating all their time to the Seasonal Spirits and their powers. The day would go by with few breaks and endless practicing and training, and the nights were spent searching the oldest books for a cure to the Darkness. The same room they had first discovered the Big Four's powers was the same one they were using to prepare.

"Freeze it!" Bunny coached, in the middle of a training session with Jack. The others stood to the side with some fascinated yetis and clueless elves, watching intently. The Winter Spirit leapt nimbly to the side, avoiding the egg-bombs that were flying towards him. He froze each one, sending out bursts of frost and making sure the temperature dropped in each egg so that it exploded before it hit the ground. When he hit the last egg he whirled to face Bunny.

"So?" He asked.

"46 out of 50 eggs. Bunny answered. "Not to bad, but you'll have to practice until you can hit every single one with ease." Jack scowled.

"But we've been practicing already," He whined, crossing his arms in a huff.

"One of those eggs can cost you your life." Bunny informed, crossing his arms right back at him. Tooth moved forward towards Jack, wings fluttering nervously, sensing the anger he felt.

"Jack why don't you try-" She began to say, before the Guardian of Fun cut her off.

"I don't need your help, you pathetic little fairy!" He yelled, whipping to face her. His eyes turned into pits, ice moving inside them, and not friendly ice, cold hard ice that could kill you in a heartbeat. Tooth shrank back, cowering before Jack's menacing shadow. He stormed out of the room, yanking the doors open so hard they rammed into the wall, causing a target to fall off its hook. He disappeared from view, and silence hung in the air.

"So that's what his eyes look like…" Bunny stated mournfully.

North tore his eyes away from the swinging doors and looked to the unnerved group. "This is how it starts," He said.

Everyone returned to their rooms after that, they weren't in the mood to train. Jack wasn't seen for the rest of the day, and nobody dared go to his room and risk the chance he was still in his mood.

* * *

It was late, and Hiccup was sitting on his bed staring out the window when he heard the knock. Toothless was wandering around the workshop for who-knows-why, and the Viking turned to the door. The knocker let himself in, closing the door quietly behind him and moving to sit next to Hiccup. He took off the hood of his blue sweatshirt and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Hi." Hiccup said, not a lot of emotion in his voice.

"What's wrong with me?" Jack said, ignoring Hiccup's dull greeting and skipping to the point. It was a rhetorical question, but Hiccup answered anyway.

"We both know the answer." He replied.

Jack looked up to the ceiling. "I never act like this. I mean, I have my moments when I get angry, but I never spaz out like today."

"I know, you're not acting like yourself."

"Glad you noticed."

"Anytime."

"I'm so embarrassed. I don't want people to be afraid of me, especially my friends."

"We're not afraid of you, we're just worried. Besides, if that's the case then they're going to be scared of me too."

"That's hard to imagine."

"But it's true." Hiccup paused, sighing. "I don't want to be cast into oblivion, and I don't want to turn out like Fear trying to destroy my best friends. Soon I'm going to have an outburst too, and then from there it's just going to become more frequent."

"But they'll find a cure," Jack protested.

"We don't know when, or if it even exists. And if they do…it could be to late and we'll be deranged maniacs."

"I thought I came here for comfort."

"Sorry," Hiccup apologized. "Point is, just go apologize in the morning, they'll completely understand."

Jack stood up, running his hands through his messy hair. "Okay, thanks Hiccup." Hiccup nodded and waved.

"'Night,"

"'Night."

* * *

Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy had all decided to stay in temporary rooms at the North Pole, so they were up early and on time for the normal morning meeting. Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup all slunk into their chairs at the same time, and Jack arrived shortly after. Jack took his seat and looked at his fellow Guardians.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to freak out." He said honestly.

"Oh, no worries Jack. It wasn't your fault." Tooth said cheerfully.

"Yes, that was yesterday, this is today." North agreed, waving off his outburst. The others nodded, and Jack found himself smiling in relief. The meeting and training period passed by smoothly, with no issues, it was only in the evening while searching for the cure when the darkness took its toll again.

"This is _so boring_!" Merida groaned shutting her book and tossing it over her shoulder. They were gathered in a large room full of shelves of books that traveled all the way up to the ceiling. A large table was in the center with eight seats, one for each Guardian.

"Tell me about it," Jack agreed, slumping in his fluffy red chair, complete with gold trim. "Grueling physical work in the day, and boring mental work in evening and night." It was true; at 7 they usually began searching, and finished sometime around 11. The big Grandfather Clock against the wall read 7:20, and the sky was lit up in orange and pink.

"If you haven't noticed, it's you and Hiccup were trying to save." Rapunzel notified him. Jack moaned and stalked over to a bookshelf, selecting three and dropping them back on the table. He snatched one that read "Magical Things" and began to flip through it tiredly. No one said anything for at least a minute, until an excited squeal rang out across the room.

"I found it!" Tooth shrieked, hovering over her chair staring at an open book on the table. She pushed it into the middle and everyone leaned in to get a good look at it.

"Um-I can't read it." Merida stated. It covered a page of the book, and at the top it said- The Darkness. Below was a picture of a small twisted black thing, and below that were strange symbols.

"It's written in a different language." Bunny observed.

"But that doesn't look like any language I've seen." Jack said thoughtfully.

"That is because it isn't a known language." North informed them. "It is the oldest language ever, and is only known by the oldest magical beings, who are by now gone."

"So all we have to do is decipher it?" Rapunzel asked hopefully, gripping her hands together. North nodded.

"Yes, but then we must find the cure, and we don't know how easy that will be. But this is our first step. Hiccup and Jack will be saved!" Screams of glee rang out around the room, and smiles broke out. Suddenly, a voice echoed in Hiccup's head, causing his head to throb.

_"I am here. I am watching."_ It said in a whispery voice. Hiccup gasped, a mixture of fear and pain. _"I will control you. I will watch as you destroy your friends."_ The guardians looked to Hiccup, who had his eyes closed and was pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hiccup?" Rapunzel asked, tentatively reaching out and putting a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

_"You are mine!"_ It finished.

Hiccup's eyes snapped open, and they were the same dark, horrifying pits. Flames danced and flickered in them as he slapped the blonde's arm off him. "As if you care, whiny little brat!" He yelled.

North slowly reached out his arms. "Calm down, Hiccup. Let us help you." Hiccup narrowed his transformed eyes.

"Shut up old man." He said in a commanding and dark tone. Jack stepped in.

"Hey!" He called. "Don't call him that!"

The Viking stared at Jack for a minute before stepping up on the table, looming over Jack. "It would be smart not to talk to me like that Frost." He growled.

"What did you just say?" Jack said, stepping up on the table so he was face-to-face. His eyes also turned into pits, ice growing and shaping inside.

"Boys, we can work this out…" North tried, cautiously approaching them. A gust of cold and warm wind blew at him, and he stumbled backwards. The two spirits never broke their glares toward each other, staring into each other's bottomless eyes.

"You heard me." Hiccup said defiantly, challenging the Guardian of Fun.

"Let's do this." Jack answered in a low voice. With that both spirits whisked themselves up in the air on opposite sides of the room. At once fireballs and ice shards flung themselves through the air. Hiccup ducked just before a shard almost went straight through his head, and Jack narrowly dodged from a fiery death. Suddenly, almost simultaneously, they both sent the largest blasts of fire and ice they had ever made hurling towards each other.

"Everyone get down!" North commanded as they all scrambled to get under the table. The other Guardians peeked their heads out just in time to see a clear shot of the two bursts colliding into each other. It exploded in an astonishing and unbelievable firework of magnificence and destruction. A deafening sound roared through the room, and the explosion sent both boys reeling back into the wall just as the Guardians closed their eyes, the brightness too much to look at anymore. When they opened their eyes again, the table above them had been incinerated, and many of the books on the shelves had been destroyed. They spotted Hiccup's unmoving body on one side and on other there was a big pile of rubble.

"Strong people help me dig out Jack and the rest get Hiccup!" North instructed. Himself, Bunny, and Merida (Since they were the strongest) all rushed to the debris while Rapunzel, Tooth, and Sandy scrambled to grab Hiccup. They dragged the Viking to the center of the room and laid him down him down where the table used to be.

"Found him!" The three heard Bunny call as they watched them heave the stray boards off the body and drag it next to Hiccup. Everyone crowded around the sleeping spirits and waited for them to resume consciousness.

After about a minute of waiting Merida said, "This is taking to long. HICCUP, JACK! WAKE UP!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Their eyes snapped open and seeing so many faces close to theirs seemed to startle them. "See?" The redhead proclaimed triumphantly. "It worked!"

"Wh-wh-what happened?" Jack stuttered, fumbling with his words. Hiccup looked just as confused.

"You really don't remember?" Rapunzel wondered, concerned. Their eyebrows furrowed, and like a shock it seemed to come back to them.

"It was inside my head." Hiccup breathed.

"What was in your head?" Bunny asked. When Hiccup still looked like he was in shock and didn't answer, the rabbit waved a hand in front of his face and repeated the question. "What was inside your head?"

The Viking snapped out of it and looked at the group. "The Darkness."


	13. Duels and Other Things

**Gonna go right into review responses-**

**Moonpie-Thank you! And I'm always welcome to suggestions! I'd love to hear it:)**

**DragonSoul-Wow, thanks! I'm so glad you liked it!**

* * *

There was an instant uproar once the name was spoken.

"I didn't know it could do that!"

"It can get inside your head?"

"Are you sure about it?

"It might not have been the Darkness."

"Everyone quiet!" Jack yelled, staring up at them. He stood up and then offered a hand to Hiccup, who gladly accepted.

"Hiccup, what did it say?" Asked North gently.

Hiccup's brow furrowed as he thought about it. "It said that it was here, watching. It said it something about how it would control me and watch as I destroyed my friends. The last thing was it said was you are mine, and that's when I freaked." The Guardians were deep in thought when suddenly the Guardian of Cleverness froze, spotting something, and then slowly turned to face the rest of the group.

"Guys, where's the book?" He asked, fear showing plain in his now normal green eyes. There were gasps.

"Oh no. We forgot about the book!" Tooth cried, hands pressed against her mouth. Bunny moved forward, picking a damaged page off the floor.

"It's in cinders!" He said. "It's all been incinerated!"

"No!" Rapunzel cried. "It can't be!" She frantically searched the floor until she began to sob. "We were so close! And now it's all gone!" Tears ran down her face and pooled in her watery green eyes.

"Don't worry, there's got to be another copy somewhere." Jack comforted.

North sadly shook his head. "I'm…afraid that was the only one." Their eyes widened.

"We were so close!" Merida shouted, slamming her fist into the floor.

"There HAS to be something else we can do." Bunny protested.

"Maybe we can repair it." North suggested. "Gather as many papers and scraps as you can." They all dashed off, grabbing every paper like thing in sight. They didn't find anything from the pages on the darkness, and eventually went back to their rooms with saddened faces.

A week passed. Jack and Hiccup had been having more spurts of the Darkness lately, and many things had been damaged or destroyed in the process. Luckily so far no one had been hurt, except for a few scrapes and bruises. Of course the pit of guilt in Jack and Hiccup's stomachs grew, even though the others reassured them over and over again it wasn't their fault. Except on a particular cloudy morning they all were woken up by Tooth's joyful shrieks.

"What's going on?" Jack said, running out of his room, hair mussed and tired eyes. Rapunzel and Merida entered the room so fast they smacked into each other with a painful thud. North quickly entered the room, wielding his double samurai swords, Hiccup coming in right after with his alert Night Fury by his side. A hole popped up in the floor and Bunny sprang out, throwing North into a frenzy.

"Bunny!" North shouted, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

Bunny put his paws up as if surrendering. "Sorry! It's habit! Especially if it's an emergency!" North let out an annoyed huff.

"Tooth! What is it?" Hiccup asked.

Tooth squealed held out her hand, which was holding a dirty paper in a death grip. "One of my fairies was wandering around the library last night when she saw something sticking out from under a shelf. She brought it to me and guess what? It's the Darkness page! The explosion must have blown it under!"

"What? Let me see." Bunny said, taking the paper from Tooth's hand. His eyes widened as he saw that it really was the same paper. The Guardians let out a large cheer, and Sandy sent out a spray of gold sand into the air. Jack let out a whoop, holding his staff in the air in triumph.

North clapped his hands together before saying, "This is wonderful news! We must translate it as soon as possible! Jack, Rapunzel, Hiccup, Merida, go train. We will decode this." The Big Four scampered off without complaint, and the Original Four rushed to the library.

Sandy used his sand to grab all of the oldest books off the shelves, while Tooth busied herself by grabbing writing utensils and a stack of musty, blank paper. Bunny parked himself in a seat at the table (The yeti's had repaired everything already) and began to read an old stray book that was lying there. North adjusted an interesting machine that was pointed to a bare wall. Tooth dropped the papers and pencils in front of him and hovered over his shoulder watching at what he would do. Sandy piled at least twenty books on the tables.

"Is that all the books we have?" North asked. Sandy nodded making symbols that read, 'Language, Darkness, Deciphering'. "Okay, good job, Sandy." North complimented. Sandman smiled and gave a thumbs up. Bunny picked up a dusty one with a black cover that read 'Ancient Tongues'.

"So we just read until we find something that matches that?" Bunny asked. North adjusted the machine, which was a projector, so that the page was lit up on the wall.

"Yes." North answered, taking a seat at the table. "Let's begin."

* * *

"Nice shot!" Rapunzel called to Jack, who had just totally smashed a target. Jack grinned.

"I know," He said cockily. Rapunzel smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Think fast!" A voice shouted to the Winter Spirit. Jack turned around just in time to see a tree branch coming right at his face. He gasped and bent backwards, avoiding the branch but falling flat on his butt. He looked up to see Merida laughing.

"Ha! You should have seen your face!" She howled. Jack stood up and brushed himself off.

"Is that how you want to play?" He said, smirking. He conjured up a snowball and aimed right at the still-guffawing redhead. It hit its target right in the face. Merida stopped laughing.

"Oh, it's on!" She exclaimed, holding up her hands. Jack held up his to and they walked toward each other until they were in each other's faces.

"Bring it, Flame Head." Jack taunted.

"I will Ice Brain." She responded, smiling evilly.

"Okay, that's enough of that." Hiccup interjected, getting between them. "You know, if you guys really want to fight it out, NICELY, I think I have an idea. Duels."

"Oh yeah!" Jack hollered.

"And you two can fight first. I'm going to go make a chart. Rapunzel, do you want to watch them and see who wins, you know, so they don't fight over it?" Hiccup offered.

"Sure!" Rapunzel nodded eagerly.

"Okay, and make sure they don't kill each other," He added, causing the blonde to laugh.

"I won't." She promised. Hiccup walked over to the whiteboard on the wall and the Spirit of Spring turned towards the two anxious spirits. "Okay, ready…set…fight!" The two Guardians charged at each other with raging speed, sending out flying blasts of power. Jack leapt into the air, sending a blast of frost hurling toward Merida. Rapunzel stepped back, goosebumps already rising on her pale skin. The Guardian of Bravery thrust her palms out, and the room began to get drastically hotter. Jack began to sink to the floor, the heat taking its toll on the winter spirit. Both Guardians' competitive nature had taken over and was in control. Jack pointed his staff upwards, causing a wave of cold air to roll across the room. It seemed to refresh him as he sent an ice dagger towards Merida at the same time she sent a branch with a deadly point hurling towards him. Both spirits were unable to stop it, and Rapunzel watched in horror as the points were about to stab her friends.

"Stop!" A voice shouted as the branch and ice evaporated in a burst of flame. Hiccup marched forward, glaring at both of them. "What the heck were you guys thinking?! You battling each other, not trying to murder each other!" The word 'murder' made everyone cringe. It sounded so harsh.

"Sorry," Jack and Merida mumbled, and it sounded like they meant it. Hiccup sighed.

"Let's just finish this tomorrow. I already coordinated how a game of duels would work." The Dragon Conqueror said, gesturing to the whiteboard. The three peered in to get a good look at it.

_Duels_

_1__st__ Round=Jack vs. Merida 2__nd__ Round=Rapunzel vs. Hiccup_

_3__rd__ Round=Jack vs. Hiccup 4__th__ Round=Merida vs. Rapunzel_

_5__th__ Round=Hiccup vs. Merida 6__th__ Round=Jack vs. Rapunzel_

_Total: Jack= Merida= Hiccup= Rapunzel=_

"See? So this way we can battle each person, and at the end of all the rounds, we total up the number of rounds each person won, and whoever won the most is the winner." Hiccup explained.

"That's so cool! I can't wait to get started tomorrow!" Merida said cheerfully.

Rapunzel nodded. "Me neither. We should probably get to the library right now though."

"Yea. I wonder if they've finished decoding the paper yet." Jack stated.

"I doubt it. It usually takes at least a day. They've only been working on it since this morning, and it's only 5 right now." Hiccup said. Rapunzel shrugged.

"Oh well. I want to check anyway." She headed out the door, the other three hot on her heels.

The door to the library flung open with a bang, causing North, Sandy, Bunny, and Tooth's heads to whirl around to see who entered.

"Hello, guys!" Tooth greeted, obviously in a good mood. The Big Four waved. "How did training go?"

"Great." Jack answered.

"Yea, except for the fact that Jack and Merida almost killed each other." Rapunzel tattled.

"We did not!" Merida protested, her face growing just as red as her fiery hair.

Rapunzel snorted. "Oh please. You guys would have either a branch or ice dagger impaled into to you if Hiccup didn't incinerate them." North raised his eyebrows.

"I don't want to know…" He decided before turning back to the paper. Tooth waved them over, Rapunzel still talking.

"And then Hiccup created this game called 'Duels'-"

"That's actually just the definition for two people fighting." Hiccup interjected.

The blonde waved him off. "And it's where everyone battles every other person and whoever wins the most rounds wins the whole game."

"Sounds like fun!" Tooth said. "We finished a little over half the message!"

"Really?" Jack said rushing over and snatching the paper that North had translated the words on. They all examined it over his shoulder as he read aloud. "The Darkness is a deadly poison-like creature that was from Man-in-the-Moon himself. It has just enough of itself to burrow into three people, changing them forever. These people must be immortal, or it will not be able to enter. They also must be special, and if they are threats to it, it will attract its attention. Once it has already buried itself into the three people, it can't leave, and if the three people die, the darkness will die with it. However-" The words stopped there.

"We still need to finish translating it." Bunny informed them. "We think it's about to tell us what the cure is."

Tooth nodded energetically. "We've been studying all day, we finally discovered the language is an ancient one only used by immortals, such as spirits and Guardians. It's called Gemina, and is the oldest ever. The translations aren't all in one book, so we've been taking out pages from all different kinds of books. We're going to stay up all night until we finish translating it. We should be done before the sun rises, we'll call you in when we've completed it."

Jack smiled, feeling a sort of relief that there was a possibility he could stay his normal self. "Then by all means, keep translating."

* * *

**Moonpie-I'd still like to hear your suggestion, even though they've finished translating half of it. But they don't know the rest yet:)**

**Review! ~Jess**


	14. Discovering the Cure

**I HAVE AN EXCUSE! I was on vacation and I forgot to tell you all that I wouldn't have time to update! I am SO SORRY! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! Yea, I'm really sorry! Did you know that if you say a word a lot of times in a row it sounds really weird? It doesn't sound like words anymore, just sounds...Okay never mind. Guess what? I got a fish! I know you probably don't care and probably less than half of you read these stupid author's notes but I just wanted to tell you. It's a betta fish and I named it after Disneyland. It's full name (including middle and last) is Flounder Mickey Disney. And it's pink! Yay! Okay sorry, to much sugar...again...Onto reviews!**

**DragonSoul-Thanks! Yup, darn cliffhangers!**

**Moonpie-Thank you! And thanks for your suggestion! I was trying to put in the story before I left on my vacation, but unfortunately I didn't have time, and I just got back and I didn't want to make you all wait longer for another chapter. And it's also hard for me to go back into the middle of the story and add a scene. But it's a great idea and maybe when I finish the whole story I'll go back and edit it:) Thanks so much for your idea! (And yea, Jess is my name)**

**Guest-Thanks! I thought this title made more sense, because the other one (****Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons****), I didn't really get it because there are no brave tangled dragons rising. And thanks! I'm really glad you like the story, and I hate waiting too, so I try not to make the wait to long:)**

**Guest-Just friendship:)**

* * *

Hiccup took a shaky breath before beginning to read the finished translation. They were gathered at the table, everyone anxiously fidgeting in their seats. It was three in the morning, and the moon could be clearly seen through the window, shining big and bright. He looked at it for reassurance before continuing where Jack had left off earlier. "However, there is one cure, only one. Deep in a lagoon, there lives a single mermaid."

"Wait, mermaids exist?" Jack questioned, before being shushed by everyone in the room. He shrunk back in his seat before letting Hiccup continue.

"The mermaid's name is Experma, and she alone knows the ways of freeing the victims of the darkness. You must ask her for help. However, this must be done before the victim is entirely consumed, or else it will be hopeless. The Darkness is not something to mess around with, and if something goes wrong, it could be deadly." Hiccup looked up from the paper and surveyed the room.

"Well, if that's how, then we'll do it." Merida said, determination burning bright in her eyes.

"But it even didn't even give us any information on this Experma girl." Jack said. Sandy put his hand in the air, and began rapidly making motions with the dreamsand. North translated for him.

"Sandy says…He knows of a single book that contains information of Experma. It is the only copy, and has never been looked at by anyone. Manny made it himself, and it was forbidden for anyone to touch or look at until the time was right. He gave it in a box to Sandy for safe keeping, and said when Experma's name was mentioned and the time was right, it may be used."

Jack put on a shocked face. "You understood all that?" Tooth playfully punched him in the arm.

"That's not the point!" She said. "Sandy, you still have the book, right?" Sandy nodded and closed his eyes. He raised his small arms up in the air; dreamsand flowed around him, swirling high in the air. It turned into what looked like a calm tornado, which slowly died down and disappeared, leaving a box in the middle of the room. It was made of sleek, black obsidian stone, and its latch and edges were pure gold. Sandy moved forward and lifted the shiny latch, pulling up the top. Everyone gathered around and peered in, eager to see what the book looked like. It fit perfectly inside its container, the cover was dark blue, and it looked like it was rippling like waves. Pink coral decorated the edges, and in gold lettering on the front it read, 'Secrets of the Deep-Experma'. It was mystifying. Even Sandy hesitated before touching it, until finally reaching up and grabbing it.

He set it on the table and opened it. Magically, it flipped to a page that had a picture of one of the most beautiful creatures any of them had ever seen. It was of a young woman with dark, luminescent eyes. Her waist length black hair had streaks of dark blue running through it and was pulled up into a high ponytail tied with a silver string. She wore a shimmering, sleeveless, silver top that was cut off at the midriff. In the middle of the neckline the two straps were tied in a v-shape so they came around her neck. The most astonishing thing though was her tail. It started as a dark blue, and the lower part morphed into black with silver streaks running through it. Mystery seemed to radiate off her fair skin.

"Wow," Jack said. They all read the description silently in their heads, which read:

_Experma is one of the most magical and oldest creatures ever known. She is the only mermaid to have ever existed, and is true mystery. She resides a deep lagoon called Yemse, which only the chosen ones can enter. Yemse is located on an island surrounded by fog in the middle of the ocean. Experma has magical healing powers, and can cure anything._

The book suddenly shut, most likely sensing that was all they needed to know. No one bothered to try and pry it back open, and Sandy gently placed it back in its case and enveloped it in dreamsand.

"Wow, I wonder if she's available." Jack whistled, mostly in awe at her looks than her healing powers. Merida smacked him in the arm. "Ow! Really? Second time today." Jack scowled.

"So the middle of the ocean? That's not very specific. It didn't even tell us WHICH ocean!" Hiccup said.

"Yeah!" Jack agreed. "There are, like, five oceans!"

"Four. There are four oceans, Jack." Hiccup told him.

"Whatever. We still don't know which one!"

Bunny walked over to a wall and pulled something down. "Yes we do." He said. They saw that it was a map. "This is map of all the magical lands, including Yemse." The map still has the outlines of a human map, but instead of the countries it had weird names of all these magical places. Bunny placed one paw on a tiny speck, which was labeled Yemse. "This is where we go."

"Yes!" North cheered. "Everyone to the sleigh! Hiccup, Jack, to your cure!"

* * *

**Yes, I know it's short. But the next is longer, don't worry. And I WILL be updating tomorrow.**


	15. The Island

**Hey! Next chapter is here!**

**Moonpie-Thank you! No, there wasn't anything important about the colors, I just like describing things:) Sorry about the confusion!**

* * *

"Get off me!" Jack shouted, shoving Bunny off him.

"It's not my fault we're all crammed in this stupid death trap!" Bunny protested. It was true, fitting eight people plus a dragon into an average sized sleigh wasn't that easy. North wouldn't allow Hiccup to ride Toothless in case the Darkness took over while he was flying.

"I'm ditching this." Jack mumbled, before squeezing out of his spot and leaping over the edge of the sleigh.

"Will he be able to keep up?" Merida wondered aloud.

"Nope, but he'll figure that out soon enough." Bunny answered. Sure enough, a few moments later there was and almost inaudible yell from a nearly invisible figure way back behind.

"Slow down!" Jack called, struggling to keep up with the rapid-moving sleigh. North flicked the reins and the sleigh made a sharp turn. Bunny grabbed the blue hood of the winter spirit's sweatshirt and yanked him into the sleigh that never stopped. It made another sharp turn to continue the normal route, the impact almost throwing Rapunzel off the side. "Why are you going so fast?" Jack asked, gasping for air from his flight.

"We can't waste any time. Every second going to Experma is a step closer to yours and Hiccup's cure." North answered.

"How long is it going to take to get there?" Merida questioned.

"We've been flying for ten minutes, so probably another half an hour." Tooth replied, wings twitching from being unable to move for so long. Merida groaned, and flung her head backwards. The sleigh zipped over mountains, deserts, valleys, and oceans, and its occupants couldn't help but peer over the edge in awe.

A while later while flying over the ocean, a tiny speck of land came into view. "There!" North pointed, while steering the sleigh towards the island. A shudder ran through the machine, and a clunking noise was heard.

"What was that?" Hiccup asked nervously. North waved it off.

"Don't worry, it's probably just-" He was cut off by a jolt from the sleigh. "Hang on! This is going to be a bumpy landing!" Screams rang through the warm air while the sleigh jaggedly crashed onto the beach. It skidded and through up a spray of sand before tipping and dumping the Guardians and Toothless on the ground. The heap was silent before Rapunzel gleefully called out,

"We're alive!" The sleigh made one last pathetic wheeze before letting out a poof of smoke and going silent.

"Yea but the sleigh isn't." Jack commented, standing up and brushing stray specks of sand off him. One by one they began to stand and survey their surroundings, while North fussed over the sleigh. Golden sand met the crystal blue waves that rolled onto shore. Opposite of that was a forest of tall trees, palm trees speckling the front. And in the center of the forest was what stood out most, a giant mountain. It was dark blue, almost black, and glittered at every angle.

"Wow," Tooth gushed.

"Welcome to Yemse!" North said, spreading out his arms.

"Can we get off the beach? It's really hot…" Jack said, sweat already beginning to form on the Winter Spirit.

"Come on, we can go in the water!" Rapunzel exclaimed cheerfully.

"There's no time." Bunny said. "I'm pretty sure there's some stairs going up the mountain to the entrance, then you climb down inside the mountain to the underground, and that's where Experma is. It should be cooler down there."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Tooth said, flitting off towards the jungle area.

"You heard her! Move!" North commanded, and they began their trek to Experma.

* * *

"I don't think this is working." Hiccup said.

"It isn't." Jack informed them. They had their little parade all worked out. North was in front, slicing at vines that got in his way, accompanied by Sandy; Bunny was scouting a little farther ahead, still in view of the group though. Tooth and Merida were right behind Santa chatting about who knows what, and Jack was right behind them, Rapunzel and Hiccup on both sides fanning him with giant leaves they found somewhere. Toothless came last, eyeing the trees for any signs of danger.

"We're just trying to help." Rapunzel said. Suddenly Toothless shook himself off, fanning his wings out, creating a breeze.

Jack sighed contently. "That felt good…"

"Toothless!" Hiccup called. "Can you stand next to Jack?" Toothless walked forward, coming between Hiccup and Jack, wanting to help. "Just wave your wings, okay, bud?" Toothless nodded, and fanned his wings, rustling the leaves and creating a cool wind.

"Thanks Toothless," Jack said, taking in the breeze. Hiccup walked forward to stand next to North, and they began a conversation. Jack and Rapunzel walked in silence.

"Wow." The blonde stated.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I was just thinking, and this is all crazy. I never imagined anything like this happening."

The Guardian of Fun laughed. "Yea I guess it is insane. I've never really thought about it before. One minute everything's normal and the next you're some mythical being with a psycho trying to take over the world."

"We're here!" A Russian voice announced. Everyone gathered next to him to look at the stairs carved into the mountain. North trudged forward and placed his foot on the first step before looking back. "Well, come on!" Hiccup warily walked to stairs, and Toothless began to follow him.

"Stay, bud." Hiccup ordered. "It's to narrow and I don't know if the rocks can hold you. Wait here, okay?" Toothless looked depressed but then reluctantly nodded and sat in a sunny spot on the ground. "Good Toothless." Hiccup complimented, before following North up the rocky slope. Bunny was right on his heels, followed by Merida, who was followed by Rapunzel, who was followed by Tooth, who was followed by Sandy, and Jack brought up the rear.

At one point Hiccup's metal leg caused him to slip and almost go over the edge of the cliff, but North grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. "Thanks," The Viking said, breathing hard from narrowly avoiding a terrible fate.

"Be careful, everybody." Bunny told the group. "The rocks are loose and it's easy to lose your balance." After a long hike up and around the mountain, the group reached a platform. They had journeyed a little higher than half the mountain when the path opened up a wide outcropping. The path didn't continue, and they had empty air on one side and a wall on the other.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Jack asked. North stroked his white beard in concentration. Everyone looked at him anxiously. After a minute he shrugged.

"I'm not the Guardian of Knowledge here. Ask him." He said pointing to Hiccup.

"Oh. Um-well-I guess-" Hiccup stuttered under the many pairs of eyes staring at him. Jack sighed and marched forward, putting both his hands on Hiccup's shoulders, and shaking him.

"Dude! Relax! We're not going to murder you if you get this wrong!" He said, giving him one last shake before removing his hands. Hiccup took a moment to brush off the stray snow that had formed and then inspected the wall.

"Well, when Jack took me, Rapunzel and Merida to Burgess (Which they did go to for a small vacation during their time) some of the houses had gates that were opened by a pass code, or you had to state what you were doing there to get in." The Viking said, thinking. "We're here to see Experma for her healing abilities." He told the wall. For a second, nothing happened, and then a tremble ran through the ground. The wall began to split in the middle, forming an empty doorway that led straight into darkness.

"Well that looks creepy." Rapunzel observed.

"Let's go!" North said, before raising his sword and running to the doorway. Suddenly, right before he went through he smacked into an invisible barrier that sent him reeling back.

"What the-" Bunny said, before being interrupted by a voice.

"Only the chosen ones, the Big Four, may enter." It said eerily. There was silence for a minute.

"Am I the only one who doesn't want to go in there?" Rapunzel asked nervously.

"Nope." Hiccup agreed. "You're definitely not the only one who doesn't want to go in there."

"Come on ye wimps!" Merida ordered, before charging into the darkness.

"Woo-hoo!" Jack shouted racing after her. Hiccup and Rapunzel shared a this-isn't-going-to-go-well glance before following them. Soon all the four were engulfed by blackness.

A distant shout of, "We'll wait for you at the beach!" was heard before the door closed and shut out the last bit of light.

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**They're almost to Experma! Yay! Review! Actually, I'm going to stop saying review because I think I've said it enough already and you all already know. ~Jess**


	16. Into the Mountain

**Here's the next chapter!**

**Cocoaflower-You'll find out soon!**

**changeofheart505-Haha, thanks so much! :D**

**Moonpie-Thank you! And thanks for always reviewing, it means a lot to me:)**

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* * *

"Everybody freeze!" Hiccup shouted, into the blackness. The footsteps stopped. "We need to go down, their may be a pit or something we fall into, or a set of stairs, we can't risk anyone falling down either of them."

"He's got a point." A Scottish accent agreed.

"Now we need to find each other." Rapunzel said. "Hold hands when you have somebody. Watch where you step" They groped around.

"Who am I touching?!" Jack yelled.

"It's me, you idiot!" Merida hissed. "Give me your hand."

"What? No!"

"Ugh!"

"Jack! Hold hands with Merida!" Rapunzel's voice chided.

"Jeez, I feel like I'm in kindergarten." Jack muttered.

"Just do it!"

"I've got her!" He said triumphantly.

"You mean I've got you!" Merida argued.

"Shut up!" Hiccup yelled. There was silence. "Wow. That actually worked." He murmured. "Wait, Rapunzel."

"Yes?"

"Doesn't your hair glow?"

"Yea, why-Ohhhhhhh. Oops. Guess I forgot…Hehe. Sorry." Groans erupted from the Guardians. Rapunzel sang her song and her floor length hair turned bright like a lantern.

"That's better." Merida said.

"What once was mine." Rapunzel finished, stopping her song.

"Hey! Your hair's still glowing!" Jack observed.

"Wow!" Rapunzel squealed. "Cool! Wait, how do I get it to stop glowing?" Her answer was shrugs. The spirits looked around. They were in a large room made entirely out of rock. Stalagmites emerged from the ground in certain places and stalactites hung from the ceiling. A cutout in the ground was where the small stone steps were. Other then that the room was bare.

"Move people. We need to find Experma as soon as possible." Merida said, heading off and disappearing down the stairs. The others quickly scampered after her. The stone stairs jutted out of the mountainside, and spiraled in large circles downward.

"So, let me get this straight." Jack said as they trekked down the mountain. "We have to go all the way to the bottom of this mountain and then go under it. How long is this going to take?"

"Going down is always faster then going up. Maybe fifteen minutes?" Rapunzel said, fingering her lit up hair.

"That's just-Wow." Jack was cut off in awe as they reached a room. The walls were coated in different gems, rubies, diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, every kind there was. The gems gave off a gleaming light that shone brighter than Rapunzel's hair. The ceiling and floor was pure gold, with streaks of silver making different patterns, like curls. Gems were in piles, along with jewelry, chests filled with who knows what, and everything valuable. Gasps rose from the group.

"Hey, Punzie, your hair's not glowing anymore." Merida noticed.

"It must stop when it's light." The blonde agreed. She rushed over to a pile of gowns and held one up. It was sparkling, the top soft pink and the bottom embedded with light purple, pink, white, and gold jewels. "It's gorgeous!" She exclaimed. Merida wandered over to the weaponry and Jack moved towards the gems. Hiccup sauntered over to a black, bare patch on a wall, and inspected the runes that were engraved on it.

"Guys," He said, still staring at the wall.

"Yea?" They answered.

"Don't take anything, whatever you do."

"Why?" Merida questioned holding up a bejeweled sword and eyeing it.

Hiccup turned to face them. "Well, just read this for yourself."

Jack and Rapunzel squinted to read it. "I can't read that!" Jack protested.

"Yea, no." Rapunzel agreed.

Merida walked over to the wall and leaned in close, translating what it said out loud.

_"Those who take from the treasury room_

_Will be cursed with immediate doom_

_Do not let an object leave_

_It is your goal you must achieve"_

"So what does that mean?" Jack asked daftly. The others smacked their foreheads in annoyance.

"It means it's fine to use the stuff here, or look around, but if anything leaves the room we all die." Hiccup explained.

"Oh." Jack said.

"And not to forget yer goal," Merida piped up.

Rapunzel nodded. "And we shouldn't. We need to go, now. We're wasting time. Now come on." She waved for them to follow and entered a tunnel, with the rest of the spirits following. Her hair began to glow again and light up the darkness as they descended the next flight of stairs. This time there was a roof and a side to the stairs, so it was a tunnel. After a bit more walking, it got cooler and damper.

"We're underground now." Hiccup announced. Soon it smelled like a rainy day, and the Guardians could hear the sound of water trickling. As they reached the last step and exited the tunnel, an astonishing sight filled their eyes. It was a large room somewhat the size of the treasury. Half the room was land, where they were standing, and the other side was water. The floor, ceiling, and walls we're obsidian rock tinted with blue, a dim light of the same color shining out. In the water side, on the wall was a large rock, creating a small waterfall. The water was lit up from an unknown source, glowing shades of green and blue with a small hint of purple. A rock jutted out in the middle of the water, and sitting upon it was probably the most beautiful thing in the room.

Experma.

She looked the same as in the picture. Dark eyes framed by long lashes, black hair streaked with blue, this was her. She looked towards the frozen group and laughed, a light and delicate sound.

"I've been waiting for you." She said. She slithered into the bright water, keeping her head above the surface and moving towards the shore. She put her arms on the shore so her top half was above the surface. "Don't be afraid, come closer, my darlings." She gestured for them to come.

"Uh-I'm Jack," The winter spirit said, moving towards her, followed by the others. "That's Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel." He pointed to each person.

"Oh I know," She smirked, raising her eyebrows. "I know a lot of things. Like, you came here for a cure to the Darkness." The group nodded. "Come closer, don't be afraid of me." The Guardians moved with Jack at the lead. The Guardian of Fun moved so he was right in front of Experma. He crouched down, and looked at her beautiful face.

"I like bad-boys." She said seductively, inching her hand towards Jack's, who was now in some sort of dazed state. "Especially when they have a little bit of Darkness in them." Jack's eyes widened as he began to move away, but the mermaid grabbed his hand with shocking speed, and had a strong grip. "Stay with me, Jack." She purred. Jack relaxed for a second, just enough to see Experma's eyes turn red as she yanked him into the water and dragged him down.

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**Cliffy! Mwahahahaha! Wow, making people wait is fun! Until the next chapter;) ~Jess**


	17. Mermaid vs Guardians

**PLEASE READ-**

**This is the ****last chapter**** that is ****pre-written****:( I'll try to update as fast as I can, but school is starting soon so I don't know how busy I'll be. I just wanted to tell you guys that so if I don't finish the next chapter by tomorrow and don't update, you won't be all like, "Why didn't she update? She's supposed to update daily!" So I just wanted to tell you all that. Onto review responses!**

**changeofheart505-Thank you! And this won't be the only edge of your seat moment ;)**

**Moonpie-Wow, really? I'm so glad you like the story that much! Thank you, that means a lot:) I'll try to update fast! Thank you, thank you, thank you!**

**Guest-You'll find out soon!**

* * *

Rapunzel screamed as Jack was dragged into the water, and gasps sounded from Hiccup and Merida. Suddenly, the water turned dark and choppy. Storm clouds formed on the ceiling and rain poured out from them. "Jack!" Rapunzel screeched, diving into the water.

"Rapunzel!" Merida yelled, jumping in after her.

"Merida!" Hiccup shouted, leaping in after all of them. The water was cold and murky, and he couldn't see any of his fellow Guardians. A sort of smoke like substance drifted around him, preventing him from seeing anything. He waved it away and observed the water, frantically searching for any signs of movement. There! A thin figure with hair swirling around it. Rapunzel. He swam towards her and touched her shoulder. A swirl of bubbles came from Rapunzel's mouth from a muffled scream. The two broke the surface of the waves, gasping for air.

"Where's Jack and Merida?!" The blonde asked, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of rain and waves.

"I don't know!" Hiccup answered. Suddenly a head of red hair broke through the surface.

"Where's Jack?!" Merida yelled.

"We don't know!" Hiccup and Rapunzel shouted simultaneously.

* * *

A tiredness was beginning to overwhelm Jack as he was pulled into the deep. He could feel Experma's nails digging into his pale skin, dragging him farther and farther from the surface. She stopped moving and faced him, her hair now loose from its ponytail and flowing in the water. The mermaid smiled, and was the definition of beauty. A wave of pleasure rolled over Jack, as he watched Experma come closer.

"Isn't it nice down here, Jack?" She cooed. The Winter Spirit, who was unable to speak, let a careless smile drift over his face. Experma drifted closer, slinging both arms over Jack's shoulders. "Forget the above world. Although, you don't really have a choice now, do you?" She entranced Jack, even though she was clearly trying to drown him. But the lack of oxygen clouded his mind. Black spots danced across his fading vision. The last thing he heard was Experma's malicious laughter before his mind completely faded and everything went black.

* * *

Merida rapidly pointed to the two others under the water to the sinking figure. The group swam towards Jack's body; Hiccup taking one arm and Merida the other. They rapidly kicked to the surface, taking in air when they broke through.

"Where's Experma?" Hiccup asked. There was dead silence. Suddenly, the Viking was yanked under the water. He struggled against Experma, trying to get his good foot free of her death grip. He took his dagger from his belt and plunged it towards her. She moved to the side just in time to avoid a fatal blow, but the blade scratched the side of her head. She hissed as the water turned red and let go of his foot, only to grab him again. Hiccup looked down at her and kicked his metal foot into her skull. Her hold immediately loosened and she fell deeper into the water, unconscious. The Viking swam towards the peering faces above him.

"Is Jack okay?" He asked as he surfaced, not giving anyone else the time to speak.

"We've got to get him to shore!" Rapunzel commanded as they swam to solid ground. The rain had ceased since Experma had been temporarily knocked out, and the waves had calmed down. The clouds still lingered, but didn't shed any water. They laid Jack on shore and looked down at him. He didn't make any movement, and they didn't hear any sounds of breathing.

"Rapunzel!" Hiccup called. "Use your hair!" The Guardian of Creativity grabbed her locks and laid them over Jack.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine!" She sang frantically. Shaky breaths emerged from the anxious spirits as they waited to see if he would wake up. Jack rolled to his side and began to hack up water. A cheer rose up from the others as he tiredly opened his eyes.

"What-what happened?" He asked.

"Experma tried to drown ye, that's what happened." Merida replied.

Jack looked like he was trying to process all this. Suddenly he snapped back to life as memory flooded through him. He struggled to sit up. "Experma-she-evil little-"

"Jack!" Rapunzel said, pushing him back down. "You nearly drowned! Relax."

A wave of panic seemed to wash over the Winter Spirit as he remembered his time under the water. "It was dark-and cold-and SHE was there. It reminded me of the time I died."

"I know." Rapunzel comforted, hugging him. "But you didn't drown, you're still here, with us." All of a sudden, the waves began to crash and rain began to fall.

"Uh-oh, she's up and mad." Hiccup stated. The mermaid rose from the waves.

"At least she can't get us on land." Merida piped up. Experma rose into the air above the water, her tail splitting into two legs. She wasn't changed at all except for the fact she had a legs covered with a black skirt and fishnet leggings, and had blue sandals.

"Are you sure about that?" Jack choked out. Experma blasted forward, landing in front of them on the ground.

"You're supposed to be dead." She growled, referring to Jack. "And you all will be!" She snarled to the others. She lunged towards them nails extended, and the Guardians scattered to opposite corners of the land.

"Isn't she supposed to be nice or something?" Jack yelled.

"Yes! Something happened!" Hiccup shouted back. Blasts came from the three other spirits and nailed the mermaid from different sides. She shrieked and sent black water blasts everywhere. "Don't hurt her!" The Dragon Trainer ordered. "We still need her healing powers!"

"Then how do we cure her?!" Jack asked, dodging a black glob of something. A flashback entered Hiccup's mind.

_North and Hiccup were lingering in the library, trying to find the cure for the Darkness. Everybody else had gone to bed, but the two wanted to take a little more time._

_"North?" Hiccup said, flipping through the pages of a book._

_"Yes?" North replied._

_"Why is darkness so bad?" North thought for a moment, pondering the question._

_"Darkness as in the disease or in general?"_

_"General."_

_"It is not always bad. Sometimes it can make the good things seem brighter, like the stars; they shine so much more in the dark. Without it, we would not be able to see it. But sometimes when people are in the dark for too long, it makes them do strange things. But even the tiniest bit of light can vanquish the darkness within them."_

"Light can vanquish the darkness." Hiccup murmured. His eyes widened. "Rapunzel!" He called. The blonde looked to him. "Sing your song!"

"What?!" She asked, confused.

"Just do it!"

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine." She sang, speeding it up. Her hair glowed, shining brightly and lighting up the room. Experma hissed, throwing up her arms to block the light. Rapunzel moved closer to her and and the mermaid fell to her knees. The light that came from Rapunzel's hair grew brighter by the second, causing everybody in the room to squeeze their eyes shut. A single flash of light blazed through the room, and everyone collapsed.

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**PLEASE READ-**

**Who is your favorite Guardian? Jack, Hiccup, Rapunzel, or Merida. Or you can select more than one character. I want to know which ones are your favorites, so I can make sure to put more of them in the story! So just review and tell me which one(s) you want to see more of. ~Jess**


	18. The Cure

**Sorry it's been a while:( I just haven't been in the writing zone lately, you know? Anyways, here's another chapter! And it's my longest yet, extra special just for you guys! On the favorite Guardian question-Hiccup's in first place, Merida and Jack are tied for second, and Rapunzel is last with no votes. Poor Punzie! Oh well. Now we know who's going to get killed off...No, I'm kidding! I'm not planning on killing anyone off anytime soon:)**

**changeofheart505-Thanks:)**

**Guest-Thank you! And that's so cool! Thalia's tree? That's really creative! I kind of want to do that now, lol.**

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**Guest-Yup, that's pretty much what happened:)**

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**DragonSoul-Thanks! Yea, stupid cliffhangers!**

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Merida's eyelids were starting to ache from being squeezed shut so hard. She had dropped like a brick the moment Rapunzel's hair had let out a brilliant light. She could see even through her eyelids the light had begun to fade and left the dim light lingering. Slowly she opened her eyes, and spots danced across her vision. She blinked a few times to clear it and sat up, scanning the room. It was peaceful, just like it was when they first arrived. Each person was still in their own corner, except for Rapunzel, who was close to Experma, who was lying in the middle. She spotted Jack sitting up and rubbing his head."Are we alive?" He mumbled.

"Probably." Hiccup answered, who was currently pushing himself up from his facedown position onto his feet.

"Did my hair do that?" Rapunzel asked, stumbling up from the ground.

"Do you see anything else that could've done that?" Merida replied, brushing herself off. Rapunzel shrugged, but her eyes quickly darted to Experma, who was still motionless on the ground.

"Is she…dead?" The Spring spirit squeaked, approaching the mermaid/human, the other three making their way over and standing behind her.

"I don't know." Hiccup said, coming in front of them and kneeling by Experma. He took her wrist in his hand and felt for the slightest heartbeat. Rapunzel bit her lip, Jack twiddled his fingers, and Merida just stood stony faced, waiting for the verdict. If Experma had died, there would be no chance of saving Hiccup and Jack. The air was thick with anxiety.

Hiccup let out of breath of air he didn't know he was holding and turned back to his friends, a tired smile breaking out on his face. Sighs of relief erupted before he could even say anything.

"She's alive." He said, even though it was obvious the Guardians had already come to that conclusion.

"Yes!" Jack cheered, pumping his fist in the air like he had just won the Olympics. A small moan came from Experma, and one of her hands moved to rub her eyes, the other pushing herself into a sitting position. She opened her eyes, and reeled back when seeing the four spirits all crowded around her.

"What-who are you? What just happened?" She asked, confusion clear on her delicate face.

Jack stepped forward. "Well, let me think. You flirted with me, you tried to kill me, you got temporarily knocked out, you turned into a human, and then you tried to kill us, again." The Winter spirit counted on his fingers. Experma confused look turned into one of remembrence as the past events came flooding back to her.

"I'm so sorry!" She apologized. "I didn't mean for that to happen-he came-and-I'm sorry-I didn't-" Tears began to well in her eyes.

"Whoa-slow down, it's fine." Rapunzel comforted, laying a hand on her shaking shoulder. "Just tell us what happened." Experma took a few deep breaths to calm herself and began to tell her tale.

"I knew you were coming. I was so excited. I've been isolated for so long. The book was wrong, I'm not the only mermaid to have ever existed. Starting from the very beginning, there were many of us. But people started to hunt us down, greedy for our powers. They believed that since we could heal, we could do other magical things too, which was true. Healing wasn't our only power; we could do other things as well, which I won't go into. The mermaids were captured, abused, and forced to use their powers for the selfishness of mankind.

"Our only chance to escape was to go into hiding, but even in the deepest ocean we were found. It got so bad, that the Man in the Moon took all the mermaids and created them a place of their very own. Their own world. But I couldn't come with them. The Man in the Moon told me that I needed to stay here, because I had a very important purpose, and the world's fate would rely on my healing powers. He took me here, to Yemse, where I would be safe, secluded from the world who tortured my kind, the mermaids. All the other mermaids vanished, transported to their own paradise, a world where that no one can enter, a world of peace, a reward for their suffering. I was left alone, waiting for what seemed like eternity.

"The Man in the Moon told me my sacrifice would not go unrewarded, and that as soon as I fulfilled my purpose in the world's fate, I would be able to reunite with the mermaids, in their world. Nobody has ever found me until now, but of course no one knew I existed. It was believed that the mermaids had died off, but then we became legends, nothing else. Over the centuries, mermaids became just a story, no sliver of belief in us, just the way it was supposed to be. Nobody knew we really did exist except for Manny, me, the mermaids, and now you. Finally, after all these years, you've come. I know what my purpose is now. To cure the Darkness."

The Guardians were speechless, this was more than any of them ever could have imagined. Experma opened her mouth to speak again.

"Fear came here earlier. He said he only wanted to talk, and I made a mistake. I listened. He said that he knew what I was feeling, that I was lonely, and sad, and longing for my family. He-he said he could make it all go away, that I could be with my family again. There was a vial, full of some sort of substance. My guess is dark magic. Fear offered it to me, claiming only one sip would make everything better. Just one sip."

"Sounds like Snow White to me." Jack commented.

"I know her!" Rapunzel squealed.

"Wait, who's Snow White?" Hiccup asked.

"Off the point!" Merida said, irritated. "Continue." She told Experma.

"Please." Rapunzel added.

Experma nodded. "I took it, with more eagerness than I'd like to say. I drank the whole bottle, and all of a sudden I saw everything in a new light, or should I say, dark. Fear was my friend. The dark was welcoming. Revenge was my passion. Fear left after that, and I thrived in the dark, evil overtaking me. My dark side had taken over, thanks to the potion. I was anticipating your arrival, plotting each of your deaths, figuring out ways to make them as personal as possible." A visible shudder ran through the mermaid's body. "Then you all came, and when I saw the light, it brought me back."

It was silent for a minute or two, each spirit trying to process all this information. "Wow, that's some story." Hiccup said, breaking the silence. Experma flashed a weak half-smile.

"Yes. I guess it is." She agreed. Suddenly her eyes widened. "But we can't forget why you all came here."

Merida nodded. "To cure the Darkness."

"You can cure them, can't you?" Rapunzel asked, worried.

"Of course." Experma confirmed. "But I need to be in my true form to do it." She darted over to the water and dove in, her legs transforming into a tail as soon as her fingers grazed the water. The Guardians scampered over to the edge and peered in. Experma broke the surface in front of them, startling the four Guardians.

"You also need to be underwater for this work." Experma informed them handing each of them their own small bubble, which surprisingly didn't pop when they cupped it in their hands.

"What's this for?" Merida questioned.

"Eat it. It will let you see clearly, hear clearly, and most of all be able to breathe, all underwater." Experma answered.

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "You want us to eat a bubble?"

"How bad could it be?" Jack said, sticking his in his mouth. He coughed, choking on his bubble. Merida whacked him on his back a few times, and then a couple more for good measure. Experma gave him a look.

"You're supposed to swallow." She said.

"Oh." Jack said, looking slightly embarrassed. The remaining three swallowed their bubbles with ease, and followed Experma under the water. She turned to them.

"Breathe." She told them. When none did what she asked, she rolled her eyes. "You can see clearly and hear clearly, what makes you think you can't breathe. Rapunzel was the first to try it, and her face was glowing with delight when she found she could also speak. The others reluctantly tried it when they saw that their friend was successful, and were also happy that they didn't choke.

"Now follow me." Experma ordered, turning and swimming down. Gasps were heard when a sight reached the spirit's eyes. A castle that was made out of coral, pinks, reds, purple, yellows, any color was somewhere on it. Pearls made it shine, and all sorts of underwater things decorated it.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure I don't remember this being here when I was underwater…" Jack said in awe.

"That's because it wasn't." Experma explained. "None of this was." She gestured to the coral and different types of seaweed. "When I was evil, it all disappeared. Maybe because this was light, and dark can't survive in the light." She sighed. "Manny wanted me to be as comfortable as possible, which is why all this is here, but still, it gets lonely." She led them through the winding hallways as they gaped at the tall structures and complete gorgeousness of the palace.

Finally Experma entered a large, gold door, gesturing for the Big Four to follow her. Their eyes widened as they looked at the giant room. It was like a ballroom, the walls were blue, gold swirls painted on. The floor was silver, and the chandeliers were gold. The room was completely bare, deprived of furniture.

"You two can stand right there." The mermaid said, pointing to two gold circles on the floor, about five feet away from each other. They were just big enough for someone to fully stand on. "I had always wondered why those were there, and now I know."

Hiccup and Jack each stood on a circle, Rapunzel and Merida off to the side, watching with intent eyes. Experma stood in front of the boys, swimming a few feet in the air and closing her eyes, taking deep breaths. Hiccup and Jack looked at each other nervously, and the girls shared a glance, wondering what was to come. Experma stretched her arms out towards the spirits of Autumn and Winter, and blue light shot out from her fingers, engulfing the boys. At it first wasn't that strong, but then the force became more powerful, forcing Hiccup and Jack to their knees, overwhelming them. Experma's arms were shaking from the tremendous amount of power she was using. A final burst of light appeared and then nothing. Experma's arms dropped to her side as she steadied her breathing. Rapunzel and Merida rushed over to the boys' side, helping them to their feet.

"How do you feel?" Rapunzel asked, concerned.

Jack thought about the question for a moment before bluntly answering, "Normal."

"You don't feel any different?" Rapunzel asked, gesturing with her hands.

"Actually, I don't feel as mad anymore…" Hiccup answered, giving more detailed answer than the Winter Spirit had.

Merida held up a finger and began to speak. "Wait, we should test if they're really cured." The other three had quizzical expressions on their faces, wondering what the redhead had in mind. Without any warning Merida socked Hiccup in the arm, causing him to jerk back, startled. He gripped the area where she had punched and rubbed it.

"Why would you do that?!" He half yelled, half asked.

"How do you feel now?" Merida asked.

Hiccup raised his eyebrows and threw his hands in the air. "Um-I don't know. Currently I'm just wondering why girls hit me so much!"

Jack gave a sly grin. "Wow, Hic, I didn't know you were the type of person to have multiple girlfriends at the same time."

"That's not what I meant." The Viking protested.

"Hey, Jack, come here." Merida called. Jack backed away and gave a wary glance.

"Oh, no. I'm not letting you hit me!" He argued. Merida shot him a look.

"It's a secret." She mouthed. Jack's eyes widened at the thought of a secret so he came right next to the princess.

"What is it?" He wondered eagerly. Suddenly, the Scot nailed him in the arm just as she had done with Hiccup.

Jack reeled back with a shocked expression. "What the-you said you wanted to tell me a secret!"

Merida nodded with a smile. "I did! The secret was that I was going to hit ya!" Jack rolled his eyes. "They're cured." Merida stated happily. Rapunzel cocked her head.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Because if either of them weren't, somebody would have already gotten hurt because they lost their heads and got mad." The Guardian of Bravery answered.

"That's true." Experma agreed, coming up behind them.

"Experma, thank you so much." Hiccup said, kneeling. The other three quickly followed his example, murmuring their thanks and kneeling as well. The mermaid quickly ushered them all up, waving it off.

"I'm not royalty, there is no need to bow before me. Besides, you're destined to save this world and all its inhabitants." Experma winked. "You have a very important part to play, as I'm sure you've been told, and I've finished my part. But before I go, I have something I want to give you each."

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**Oooooo, what's Experma going to give them? You'll find out in the next chapter. In the meantime, tell me what you thought of this one! Until the next chapter! ~Jess **


	19. Gifts

**Another update! Yay! I honestly wasn't expecting to update so fast, but I was just in the mood!**

**changeofheart505-The wait's over! Here it is:)**

**Guest-Just friendship:)**

**Moonpie-Thanks so much! And yea, I expected Rapunzel to have at least ONE vote, but I guess not!**

**lovelychikadee-Thank you!**

* * *

"You really don't have to do that, you've given us so much already." Rapunzel protested to Experma's offer. Experma shook her head.

"What I give you, you'll need." She said, wisdom lacing her words. She snapped her fingers and all the water evaporated out of the room, except for a bubble around her. The mermaid turned to Merida, who was at the start of the line.

"Guardian of Bravery, Spirit of Summer, your temper is as fiery and untamable as your hair, but inside your soul lies bravery beyond belief. Your independence shines, and you are a true warrior, and therefore I bestow upon you speed. You will be swift and fleet-footed, your legs being able to carry you farther and faster than any other. And not only that, your mind will also improve in speed. Your brain will act on instinct, being able to sense your opponents next strike." With that Experma waved her arms slowly above her head and a cascade of sparkles swept over Merida, and the redhead closed her eyes. When they faded, she opened her eyes and blinked in astonishment.

"I feel like I could run miles!" She said in awe. Experma smiled and nodded.

"That's because you can. Oh, and I almost forget, this is for you." She waved a had and a quiver full of arrows appeared, floating into Merida's hands. She received a questioning glance from the Summer Spirit, and automatically explained. "When you take an arrow, another one will instantly replace it. You'll never run out."

A gasp aroused from Merida she flashed a bright smile, an excited look on her face. "Really? Thank ya so much!" She said. Experma smiled and nodded, turning to Hiccup, who was standing next to the Scot.

"Guardian of Knowledge, Spirit of Autumn, you have a heart of gold, and you cherish those close to you, willing to sacrifice anything for them. Although you tend to try and stay out of trouble, it always seems to find you, but you always pull through. The gift I give to you is communication. Talking to any creature will be easy; you'll be able to understand them and they will be able to understand you. You'll have a very special way with dragons especially, having the ability to sense their feelings and understand their emotions." Experma summoned the sparkles again and they rained down on the Viking. When they disappeared, Hiccup stood there looking normal as ever.

"I don't feel any different." He stated, trying to hide his disappointment.

"That's because there are no animals down here. It's completely isolated. But once you see your dragon, what's his name again?" Experma asked.

"Toothless." Hiccup answered.

"Ah-yes, Toothless, then you will be able to read his thoughts. Same goes for any other creature." Hiccup's green eyes lit up at the statement, eager to try it. Experma continued speaking. "And as for your weapon…" With a simple flick of her hand she created a gleaming sword, glinting in the dim light. Its handle was gold, and the sword itself was a medium size, a perfect fit for the small Viking.

"This sword is invincible, it will never break. It also appears on command. To make it appear, simply say 'Anilek', that's its name, and for it to vanish say 'Finished'." Experma explained. Anilek landed in Hiccup's awaiting hands, and the Guardian examined it with joy, turning it in his hand to get the feel for it.

"Finished." He said. Anilek vanished into thin air, and Hiccup grinned. "Thank you, Experma." He said, gratitude clearly showing on his freckled face.

"Your welcome." The mermaid graced him with a dazzling smile, and faced Rapunzel, preparing her speech.

"Guardian of Creativity, Spirit of Spring, your kindness outshines any of your other qualities. True, you are a very sensitive person, but your toughness should not be overlooked. You value your friends, and hate to see them hurt. Your loyalty never falters, even in the darkest of times. I grant you with the gift of persuasion. You will be able to get your enemies, or anyone else for that matter, to listen to you. You'll have a gifted tongue, and with your words you can tempt your enemies to do what you want." Experma finished. The same process with the sparkles happened again, and Rapunzel blinked, trying to get a grip on her new power. Experma tilted her head, gesturing for her to try it out. The blonde turned towards Jack, smiling at him.

"Jack, would you mind going and standing in that corner over there?" Rapunzel asked, sweetness dripping off every word. Jack's eyes became duller, and confusion masked his face.

"Wha…" He mumbled, seeming to forget about everything. Rapunzel flashed him a seductive smile, and the Winter Spirit's eyes widened. "Course not." He agreed turning and walking to the corner of the room.

"Now come back." Rapunzel commanded. Jack immediately turned and approached his friends, still not quite in reality. "Um-how do I get him to, you know, come back?" Rapunzel asked.

"Just snap your fingers in front of the person's face, if they don't shake it off." Experma replied. Rapunzel did as she was told and instantly Jack snapped back to life.

"Huh? Wait, what? What's going on?" He asked, puzzled.

"Rapunzel just persuaded you, that's all." Merida filled him in.

"Don't worry, I'll never use that on any of you ever again." Rapunzel promised. Her friends smiled at her.

"I still have your weapon to give to you." Experma said.

"Weapon? I really don't think that's a good idea." The princess denied, looking nervous at the thought of having to hurt somebody with anything other than a frying pan or flowers.

"You'll need it." Experma confirmed. She waved her hand and to four sharp throwing knives appeared, along with a purple belt that had slits to hold each knife. "These will always return to you no matter how far away it lands." The belt buckled itself around Rapunzel's waist, the knives floating into their spots.

"Thank you very much," Rapunzel thanked the Experma, heartfelt. Last was Jack.

"Guardian of Fun, Spirit of Winter, your childish nature to play gives you a lively spirit. Though sometimes you neglect your responsibilities, you come through in the end. You care about your friends more than anything else in the world, cherishing them no matter what. For you is the gift of stealth. You'll be able to move easier without being seen. Naturally you'll blend in with your surroundings and move quietly as well. You'll be hard to notice when sneaking up on someone." When the process of granting Jack's power was finished, the spirit's eyes lit up with joy.

"I feel like I'm a spy!" He cried gleefully. "Like I can go anywhere without anyone noticing me!" The other three Guardians raised their eyebrows and shared a glance.

"Jack not being able to be seen or heard? That could lead to trouble…" Rapunzel teased.

"It'll make it very easy to play pranks." Hiccup joked.

"Unfortunate for us." Merida laughed. Jack sent them a knowing smile.

"I have some tricks up my sleeve," He responded, crossing his arms. Experma laughed along with the others, and then got back into business mode.

"The last gift of the day is about to be presented." She said, that instantly caught the group's attention (especially Jack's). "Your weapon, Jack Frost, will still be your staff, but an enhanced version of it. Speaking of your staff, may I have it for a moment?" Jack's eyes widened.

"My staff! Where is it?!" He asked frantically, whipping his head around for any signs of the magical weapon.

"You must have left it on shore." Hiccup suggested. Jack looked sick with worry thinking about all the things that could have happened to his staff.

"No need to worry, I'll get it." Experma said. She recited a phrase in an unknown language, and the staff appeared in front of the Winter Spirit. Jack snatched it out of the air, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," He said gratefully.

Experma nodded and held out her hand. "May I?" She asked. Jack reluctantly handed out his newly returned staff to the magical being, already missing it.

Experma waved her hands over the object, and it gave off a glow.

"What did you do to it?" Jack wondered, taking his staff from the air.

"It now will never break, no matter what happens to it. It's indestructible." She explained.

Jack examined his staff happily. He looked up at the person who had helped them so much. "Thank you, Experma, for everything." He said sincerely. The three others echoed his words, the same grateful expression on each of their faces.

"It's my pleasure. Finally, my purpose has been fulfilled and I can reunite with my kind." Experma said, happiness lighting up her face.

"Wait!" Rapunzel burst out. "Will we ever see you again?"

Experma gave a mysterious smile. "Maybe, maybe not. Only time can tell. Guardians, I wish you the best of luck in your battle. May all the magical beings be on your side." With that, the mermaid leaned back her head and threw out her arms. A blue light shot up from the ground, engulfing her. It coated her entire body, and then she vanished light and all. The Guardians stared in shock at the events that had played out before them, when the reality of what had just happened hit them. Experma was gone.

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**Yay! They got presents from Experma and she got to go and be with the other mermaids! Yup, I'd say this was one of the more pleasant chapters. Review! You all are so awesome at it! ~Jess**


	20. Partings

**Hello! Bonjour! Hola! All the other ways to say hi that I don't know! Anyways, sorry I was gone for a while:( I'm really trying to get into the whole school zone, last year wasn't so hot so I'm trying to do better this year. I only have a B in English! Frankly, it's frustrating. But anyways! I'm glad to be back, and this chapter is a long one (for me at least)!**

**changeofheart505-Thanks!**

**DragonSoul-Yup, thank you!**

**Guest-I'll see what I can do about the shippings, I've already got some ideas starting to form;)**

**Moonpie-I'm in a great mood! Well, actually right now I'm tired because it's 10 at night, but anyways, how are ****_you_****? And thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully you'll like this one too;) Actually, I've always thought of Toothless' voice as not all that low. I picture him kind of as a younger dragon, judging by his personality, and I always imagined his voice at that line between high and low. Is that confusing? Honestly, I think it's hard to imagine his voice at all! I'm actually planning an encounter with Pitch soon, so don't worry, he will be making an appearance:) I take it you really like him? Thanks for reviewing! It's always appreciated!**

**Guest-Oooooo, maybe I should make a spinoff if that did happen!**

**Ice Wolf-Wow, thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying it!**

**Serenity'sfire98-Well, I'm glad it had an effect, but sorry it made you feel that way!**

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The four seasonal spirits really didn't know how long they stood there, only that it took a while for them to shake off the daze.

"Well that went well." Rapunzel said brightly.

"I agree." Jack chimed in.

Merida nodded. "We should probably get back to the beach, the others are probably wondering where we are."

"Yea, we should." Hiccup agreed, walking towards the door and opening it. A flood of water came crashing down, dousing the Viking and heading straight for his comrades. Jack flew into the air, narrowly escaping the wave that rolled in. His friends surfaced, sputtering, while Jack looked at them with a panicked expression.

"We can't breathe underwater anymore!" Merida gasped. The statement made their eyes all go wide with fear. The large room was filling up fast, already about a quarter full, enough to make the three in the water swim to keep their heads above. Suddenly, an idea dawned on Hiccup.

"I'm going to close the door!" He shouted, beginning to dive under the waves. Jack darted to follow him.

"I'll help! The Winter Spirit called, going under as well. He and the Viking swam to the door, and then Jack counted on his fingers to three. At the third number, they both pushed on their door, Hiccup on the right door, and Jack on the left. Grounding their feet on the floor they mustered up all the force they had. The doors moved a couple inches, but the power of the water flooding through was too much to handle, and the two Guardians retreated to the surface in defeat. The girls' wide concerned eyes went to them as they resurfaced, urging for an answer.

"It won't close." Jack said sadly.

"The force of the water is to strong." Hiccup supplied more information.

"There has to be another way!" Rapunzel protested.

"We just need to stall the water until we can think of it." Merida piped up. Jack nodded, and without warning, grabbed her arm and flew her up the ceiling. The Summer Spirit let out a yelp at the unexpected surprise while shouts of "Jack, what are you doing?!" were heard from below. Jack deposited her onto a chandelier, and she sat on the rim, gripping the crystal chains for dear life. Next the teenager snagged Rapunzel, setting her on the chandelier only a short distance away from the other occupied one. Last, he grabbed Hiccup, while he floundered around in the air before being dumped on the last chandelier. All three of the chandeliers were in a triangle, with Jack hovering in the middle. The water was three quarters full already, the level getting higher and higher by the second.

"Okay, so anyone have a brilliant idea that doesn't involve us drowning?" He asked, looking around at his friends. There were a couple moments of silence when an idea blossomed in each of their heads. They shared glances with each other before Jack nodded. He flew along the surface of the rising water, his staff touching the liquid and throwing up a spray. It froze in place, and soon the rest of the water was a solid as well. His friends jumped down onto the ice, giving him high fives.

"The whole lake is frozen now?" Merida wondered, leaning down and brushing her fingers against the ice. The winter spirit nodded.

"Yup, I made sure of that." He replied with a grin.

"It's all ice, all right." Hiccup stated, who had wandered off one of the walls and was now pressing his hand against it. "The wall is freezing."

"How are we supposed to get out?" The blonde of the group asked, spinning in a circle to examine everything. Jack shrugged.

"I hadn't thought that through yet." He admitted sheepishly.

"Hey, guys?" Hiccup called from across the room. The Guardians looked at him. "Do you feel something?"

"Feel something? I feel a lot of things! I feel tired, and hungry, and cold! I'm the Spirit of Summer not the Spirit of Popsicles! And it doesn't help that I can't use my heating power without turning this into Atlantis!" Merida answered, obviously flustered. Rapunzel shivered.

"I agree. Let's just find a way out of here." She said, and Merida wrapped a sisterly arm around her. The Creativity Guardian returned the gesture and the two girls huddled for warmth.

"I'm not cold." Jack commented. "And neither is Hiccup, aren't you?"

"It's always cold on Berk. I'm used to it."

"See?"

"Anyway, back to what I was saying." The Viking interjected before a fight could break out. "Do you feel anything? Like, a feeling that's telling you what you should do."

"You mean a conscience?" Jack asked doubtfully.

"No! Well, yes. Kind of. It's more than that. It's like I've got a mini person inside my head that's telling me how to get out of situations alive."

"Oh! I've heard of that!" Rapunzel cried excitedly. "I read once in a book that when the time is right, a voice will emerge from your mind. It's sort of like a conscience, but it stands out from all your other thoughts. It teaches you new things, but it doesn't always speak to you, only at certain times, all the others you're on you your own."

"So it really is like a mini person?" Merida asked, confused. Rapunzel rubbed her hands together in thought, trying to grasp for a decent explanation.

"It's more like a voice. I think it's your fully matured self, the self that knows everything, because no one is ever fully mature." Rapunzel said.

"Well, it's trying to tell me something." Hiccup told them. "And chances are, it's probably trying to tell you something too."

"Okay, so everyone just close their eyes and concentrate." Merida said, closing her yes, the three following her example. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind, waiting for whatever it was to speak to her.

_"Connect with each other." _A voice said. Merida's eyes flew open, and she saw her friends smiling in astonishment.

"I heard it!" Rapunzel cheered gleefully.

"Me too!" Jack smiled happily.

"Me as well!" Merida shouted joyfully.

"I did too!" Hiccup laughed, grinning. "It said, 'Without any doubt,'. So what did your mind tell you?" He asked the group.

"Mine said, 'Connect with each other'." Merida told them.

"My voice told me, 'To find your way out'." Jack said.

"Mine was, 'Join powers together'." Rapunzel added. Hiccup scrunched his nose in thought.

"So…now we just put them together!" The Guardian of Knowledge declared, thinking for a moment. "Connect with each other…without any doubt…join powers together…to find your way out."

"Connect with each other without any doubt, join powers together to find your way out!" Jack repeated eagerly.

"Okay, so if I'm right, it's saying that we need to work together and join our powers together, believing in ourselves." Merida implied. Rapunzel nodded, and the two girls linked hands, gesturing for the boys to join the circle. Hiccup came in between Rapunzel and Merida, taking both their hands. An unsure Jack took each of their other free hands, closing the circle. Jack examined his friends' faces, thinking of the memories they had formed as his stare passed over each of them. The funny moments he had shared with Hiccup, the sweet and soft times with Rapunzel, the teasing bits with Merida. But then he realized that the best memories were with all of them together, as a group, as a family. He smiled at his brother and sisters before calmly saying,

"Let's do this." He closed his eyes and concentrated. Before long the ground had began to quake, and each of the Guardians could feel the sheer power radiating off them. The shakes became more rapid, stronger, and the climax to the energy was clearly building. All at once, there was a tremendous sound and an earth-shattering explosion. The ice burst into shards, vanishing in the air, as did the mountain. Then, there was silence.

The four opened their eyes and looked around. They were standing in an enormous crater where the mountain once was.

"That went well." Rapunzel stated positively.

"Yeah, it did." Hiccup agreed. Merida darted to the edge of the crater and waved a hand.

"Come on! Let's move it!" She called, already beginning to scale the tall, tall, very tall wall.

"I'll fly," Jack informed. Hiccup held up a finger.

"Um, what about me and Rapunzel?" The Autumn Spirit inquired.

"You and Punzie can climb too." Merida shouted.

"Uh-us? Well, I'm not really sure that's a good idea…" The blonde protested, hesitant. Suddenly a big black mass came skidding, more like falling, down the steep hill, spraying up dirt. It pounced on the ground and dashed over to Hiccup, jumping on top of him and knocking him to the ground. Rapunzel and Merida screamed before realizing what the thing was.

"Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, his dragon stepping off of him. He pushed himself into a sitting position before proceding to pet Toothless, who was currently nuzzling him affectionately.

_"I missed you!"_ A voice proclaimed, seemingly coming from the Night Fury. Hiccup reeled back, startled.

"What the-did-did you just talk?" He stammered, green eyes wide.

_"In Dragon, why? Wait, you can understand me?" _Toothless "said".

"Yes!" Hiccup nodded. "It was Experma! She gave me the gift of talking to any creature!" Toothless' face lit up, well, as much as a dragon's can. The boy threw his arms around his friend's neck, beaming. His human friends watched, able to at least figure out the duo were communicating.

_"What happened?" _Toothless nagged, wanting to know all the details.

"It's a long story. Where are the others?"

_"Back at the beach, waiting for us. I ran immediately when we saw the explosion."_

"Okay, well can you give me and Punz a ride up? Please?" Hiccup begged.

_"Of course." _Toothless agreed. The rider grinned, sitting on the saddle, and gave a nod to Rapunzel who happily jumped up behind him.

"Hold on." Hiccup warned the passenger. Rapunzel could feel the dragon and the human tensing up, and she clung even tighter to Hiccup's waist.

"What are we going to doOOOOOO!" She screeched Toothless flew straight up vertically. The trio reached a point where the crater was an ant, and then flipped around so they were going down. The Spring Spirit's screams were lost in the air as she saw the ground rapidly approaching. At the last possible moment they veered up, only with another passenger. Rapunzel furrowed her eyebrows as she heard a yell that resembled Merida's voice. She causiously peered over the side to see the redhead dangling from the dragon's claws. Jack flew backwards alongside them, hands on his head in a relaxed position.

"How's it going?" He said casually.

"Oh fine, just flying and saving the world, nothing much." Rapunzel replied, laughing. Jack chuckled as well before facing forward and pointing to specks on the beach.

"There." He pointed, taking a nosedive towards the ground, Toothless following. The group landed on the sand, not even being able to speak before being crushed in a group hug. When they were finally released from the embrace, North put his hands on his hips.

"What happened?" He demanded to know.

"Well to sum it up," Hiccup started. "We went into the mountain found an evil Experma trying to kill us and broke her spell then she cured us and gave us gifts then went to be with her people then we got trapped and then combined our powers to blow up the mountain and escape."

"Longest run on sentence ever!" Jack sang in a singsong voice. "Awesome!"

"We're just so glad you're safe." Tooth bubbled, looking them over for any signs of serious injuries.

"We can't stay." Merida burst out, the older Guardians' eyes widening.

"What? Where are you going?" Bunny questioned.

"We're not sure." Hiccup put in. "When we were with Experma, she told us only we could do this."

"We just don't want anyone else getting hurt." Rapunzel sympathized.

"For now, at least." Jack added. "We just need time to figure out a game plan."

North nodded. "We understand. You must find answers. Defeat Fear. But when you need us, just ask and we'll be there." The other three nodded.

"Don't get yourselves killed, kiddos." Bunny advised.

"Stay safe." Tooth chimed in. Sandy made a smiley face icon, telling them to always remember to smile. Sad smiles decorated each Guardians' face, including Toothless, who gave his depiction of a depressed grin. They came in for hugs, and the Big Four got ready to leave, Hiccup readying himself on Toothless, Merida snagging the open seat, and Rapunzel taking Jack's hand as they prepared to fly.

"We'll see you soon." North said. Tooth's violet eyes pooled with tears, Sandy offered a despondent wave, and even Bunny was sad, although he was careful not to show his emotions.

"You can do this." The rabbit encouraged. Then with a final wave, the group of four (plus Toothless) took to the skies.

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**Well our Guardians are just going from a sticky stituation to a worse situation! Drowning can't be all that fun:( Hope you enjoyed! Review! ~Jess **


	21. Campfire Confessions

**Hello, my readers! Guess what? Auditions for my school play is all through this week, and I've been so excited! I haven't read for the part I'm auditioning for yet, but I've read for tons of other characters. But I'll shut up now. I've got another chapter just for you!**

**DragonSoul12-Thanks! Wow, you lost your account? That's not good. But it's great that you found it! If I lost my account I'd be freaking out, lol.**

**Moonpie-Actually, that was a pretty long chapter. 1,800 words! Yeah! Actually, that's not much compared to others, but for me, yay! I never really thought about Toothless' voice that way, but it does make a lot of sense! I'm not really an expert on that sort of stuff, hehe...You're right about that! I watched Epic again and that does sound similar to Toothless. I'm not sure anymore! I guess we'll all just have different opinions, even though I really don't know what mine is yet;) I read Pitch's backstory and it's so sad! Unfortunately, I really only truly know him from the movie, so I'll have to stick with that:( I'll try though!**

**Guest-Thanks, and here's the next update!**

**Serenity'sfire98-Thank you! Yup, oh Jack.**

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Merida loved flying on a dragon; the wind blowing in her face, her hair whipping in the wind. Riding Angus was fun, of course, and she wouldn't trade the times she had spent with him for anything. But riding on a dragon…there was an exhilarating feel that gave her goosebumps, she felt powerful, not that she cared about that part. But, oh, how she loved it.

"Any ideas where we're going?" Hiccup called over the wind, talking to no one in particular and breaking Merida from her thoughts.

"Actually I do have something in mind." Jack smirked coyly.

"Mind sharing with us?" Merida blurted, blue eyes set on the Winter Spirit. He held up a finger.

"Calm down, fireball." He teased. "I was thinking we would go see Pitch."

"_What?!_" The Guardians shouted, shocked.

"You mean that awful villain that gave kids' nightmares?" Rapunzel uttered, eyes wide. Jack nodded.

"Yup." He agreed.

"Why?" Merida sputtered.

"What can he do to help us?" Hiccup accused.

"More than you think. He's the King of Nightmares, supposedly the King of _Fear_." Jack countered.

_"Your friend's crazy." _Toothless noticed. Hiccup chuckled, causing an irritated stare from his apparently "crazy" friend.

"Hey!" Jack defended. "I thought it was a good plan!" Hiccup raised his hands in surrender.

"It is!" He protested. "It's just something Toothless said!" The girls chuckled and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Well, are we going or not?" He demanded to know. The trio shared a glance before nodding.

"Where is Pitch, anyway?" Merida wondered.

"Probably where he normally is." Jack guessed. "In Burgess, under the bed."

"That's a long ways off." Rapunzel sighed. "Even flying and on a dragon."

"A portal would be helpful right about now." Hiccup put in. He glanced at the sun that was already getting low in the sky. "It'll be dark in about an hour. We should be there in about two. I say we get to the woods where his hideout is, and camp for the night a little farther off. I don't know about you, but I don't want to meet Pitch in the dark."

Rapunzel shuddered at the thought and clung to Jack's hand a little tighter. She nodded. "Good plan."

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Jack landed gently on the ground, his feet not making a sound as he landed on the dirt. He set Rapunzel gently on the ground, who he had been carrying bridal style for the past hour, and turned to see Toothless landing smoothly next to him.

"Pitch's lair is in that direction, about a half an hour walk from here." Jack pointed deeper into the woods, then turned to the opposite direction. "And the town is only ten minutes that way."

"Okay, so let's just set up camp here." Rapunzel suggested. The others nodded.

"Jack, Merida, you should go get some food." Hiccup said.

"Why us?" The redhead asked.

"Because, Merida, you're supposed to be really fast in mind and body, so you can run to chase after an animal and also know their next move. And Jack, you're like a spy, it will be hard for the animal to see or hear you. But then there's always the other option that you could go pick berries or something." Hiccup explained. The duo rapidly shook their heads.

"We'll get the animals." Merida informed, sprinting into the thicker part of the woods with abnormal speed.

"Yup!" Jack agreed racing after her, apparently not yet realizing he wouldn't be able to keep up. Toothless bounded after them, not wanting to miss out.

"I'll take care of the fire, you take the bedding?" Hiccup suggested to Rapunzel. She nodded.

"Got it." She turned away from him, moving her hand so flower petals appeared and two large leaves wrapped around them, then finally summoning a vine to tie it together. There, one pillow done. She made three more, then a larger one for Toothless, and turned around to face Hiccup. Instead of seeing the Viking, she was greeted by a blazing hot fire taller then her.

Rapunzel screamed and backed away from the flames, tripping and falling onto the ground. Hiccup ran around from the backside of the fire, panic clear in his face.

"What?!" He shouted, sword in hand. Rapunzel pointed to the fire.

"That's huge!" She cried. Hiccup glanced at the fire, then back at her, then to the fire again.

"Finished." He said, the magic word making Anilek vanish from his hands. "That's what you were worried about?"

"Well…yes." Rapunzel answered sheepishly, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Hiccup laughed and offered her a hand, which she gladly took, and pulled her to her feet. "That could start a wildfire!" She observed.

Hiccup shook his head. "I've got it under control." He waved a hand and the fire instantly became normal sized.

"But there's no fire pit. How's it still going? Why isn't it spreading?" The blonde pestered, urging for answers.

"I can control fire, remember? I've already secured any chance of it spreading in the slightest bit." Hiccup reassured her.

"Oh." She answered, smiling at herself. Neither of the Guardian's knew that there were multiple pairs of eyes watching them from the bushes. They heard a rustle, and Rapunzel immediately drew out her knives and Hiccup called Anilek. They braced themselves for danger. Suddenly, a boy emerged from the bushes, looking as if he had been pushed. The two jumped and Hiccup put the edge of his blade at the intruder's chest, not yet seeing his appearance. The young boy scrambled back on all four, letting out a yelp. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and looked to be around the age of nine.

"Please don't hurt me!" The boy whimpered, cowering. Hiccup pulled back Anilek, surprised that it was just a kid.

"Whoa, we're not going to hurt you." Hiccup assured him.

"We're friendly." Rapunzel comforted, pulling the boy to his feet.

"You're just lucky it was us who found you, and not Merida and Jack. They don't always think before they act." Hiccup joked, causing both him and Rapunzel to laugh. The boy's face lit up.

"You know Jack? Jack Frost?" He asked eagerly. The spirits nodded, unsure of how this kid could know Jack. The boy waved to the bushes, and five figures emerged. They looked to be kids as well. Suddenly, the connection dawned on Hiccup and Rapunzel, and they shared a look.

"Wait a second. You're Jamie, aren't you?" Hiccup figured.

"How did you know that?" The boy, apparently Jamie, wondered.

"What are you doing here? How much did you see?" Rapunzel countered, ignoring his question.

"Well, we were going on an expedition, actually, just a camping trip. By the way, that's Monty, Pippa, Cupcake, Caleb, and Claude." Jamie pointed to each of his friends, who gave a small wave. "And we heard voices, so we went to investigate. Then we saw you two, and-and you created a fire with nothing but your hands! And you controlled flowers and vines!"

"Yeah. You see, we're Guardians." Rapunzel admitted.

"New ones." Hiccup interjected.

"We're friends with Jack." The Spring Spirit continued. " And another girl named Merida. My name's Rapunzel, and this is Hiccup."

"Hiccup? Rapunzel?" Pippa repeated, giggling.

"Those are funny names." Caleb chimed in. Hiccup shrugged.

"We get that a lot." Hiccup said. "How are you able to see us?"

"We believe in everything." Jamie answered.

"Are you two in love?" Cupcake questioned.

"No!" Both Guardians replied simultaneously.

"Well, we love each other." Rapunzel said.

"But not that way." Hiccup added. "More as brother and sister." All of a sudden, Jack and Merida burst into the campsite, followed by Toothless. Each held up a bounty of small game, rabbits, squirrels, and all that stuff.

"Whoa! We asked you to get dinner, not enough for a week!" Rapunzel said, green eyes wide at the sight of all that food.

"We just kind of turned it into a competition." Jack declared.

"I got more!" Merida boasted.

"No way!"

"Yes!

"No!"

"Is that a dragon?" Monty gasped. Jack and Merida noticed them for the first time, and Jack grinned. Toothless did as well, and growled.

"_Who are they?" _He hissed dangerously, stepping in front of Hiccup and his friends protectively. The children gasped, fear in their eyes of the creature.

"Toothless! They're friends! Friends." Hiccup explained, rushing to stand in front of the terrified kids.

_"Are you sure? Because I can always take care of them for you." _Toothless offered.

"Toothless!" Hiccup scolded. "Be nice!"

"Can-can you understand him?" Claude stuttered, in awe of how he had just "tamed" the dragon.

"It's a long story." Hiccup said, the Night Fury nuzzling him. "He's friendly, just hold your hand out…" He took Claude's hand and gently guided it to Toothless' nose. "See?"

"Wow! I'm petting a dragon!" The kid shouted happily. Soon his friends were lining up for a turn and were occupied with the dragon.

"What happened when we were gone?" Jack smiled.

"Well…we made pillows and a fire?" Rapunzel laughed. "The kids were camping and saw us using our powers. I guess we better explain to them what's going on."

"Hey kids!" Jack called, snagging their attention from Toothless. "Want to hear a few stories?" The kids cheered and they each gathered around the campfire, thanks to Hiccup's fire. They munched on the newly cooked animals and waited for the stories to start. "Now, you already know my story, but you don't know theirs. They're going to tell you about their adventure before they became a Guardian." Jack explained. Merida went first, making wild gestures with her hands as the kids listened intently. Then came Rapunzel who told her story more calmly, but had their attention nonetheless. Last was Hiccup, and the kids were fascinated, loving the danger and dragons. Finally, Jack explained everything starting from the point when they first met, the others chiming in occasionally with their own details to add.

"It's about time you kids headed back home." Jack told them, getting to his feet. "It's late." The children groaned.

"But we want to help you fight Fear!" Jamie protested.

"And Pitch!" Caleb added.

Hiccup held up a hand. "First off, we're not fighting Pitch."

"Awwwww, Hiccup." Claude whined.

"He's right. We're going to negotiate for information." Rapunzel agreed.

"But what if you need backup?" Jamie bribed.

"Home." Jack instructed, pointing to the town. The kids sighed and headed back with a chorus of 'bye's and 'see you later's.

"They're cute kids." Rapunzel sighed. Jack nodded, a tired smile breaking out on his normally energetic features. He sat back down, snow appearing around his spot on the ground. There was silence from the group for a few moments, each were on opposite corners of the fire, creating an even square.

"I'm glad I met you guys." Merida said, breaking the quiet that lurked in the air.

"Yeah, me too." Rapunzel agreed. "This is amazing."

"I never could have imagined anything like this happening." Hiccup piped up, the firelight illuminating his face. Toothless made a sound that sounded like he agreed.

"You're all so great, and now that I know you, I can't imagine life without you." Jack admitted, his softer side coming out.

"Before I knew you, I spent almost all my life in a tower." Rapunzel began. "Then, when I got out and met Eugene, finding my parents and getting to live in the kingdom, I thought nothing could compare to this. That it was the best thing that could've happened. But I was wrong. I met you, all of you. And that changed my life more than I could've ever thought, and I don't ever want any of us to have to be separated." Heartfelt tears appeared in her eyes, and the Guardians gave her a group hug, happiness and love etched clear on their faces. They resumed their positions, and Hiccup opened his mouth to speak.

"When I was going down in the crash, I thought it was the worst thing that could've happened. I thought I'd never see anyone I loved ever again. No more flights with Toothless, no more hugs with Astrid, no more training sessions with the gang. I didn't think I'd live to experience something just as good. New friends, new adventure, this is more than I'd ever hoped for, and I wouldn't trade it for the world." He smiled, and his friends gave him their own grins in return.

Jack to a deep breath before saying his thoughts and emotions. "Isolation for 300 years can really get to you. I thought I'd never have human contact, which I yearned for. Someone, or multiple someone's, to talk to, to laugh with, to trust. I got so much more than I wished for. I gained all your on the ride of a lifetime. Not to mention the other Guardians, but you all. You're so much more than friends. You're my brother and sisters. Thank you, for everything." He found himself relieved at having said all that, and saw that his friends' reactions were not of shock at his heartfelt confession, but of love and acceptance.

"Let me just start out by sayin', it takes a lot to put up with me." Merida started. "I've never really had real, close friends until now. I didn't know what true love is like. I mean, sure, there's my family, but me and my mum's relationship is still mending, and my dad and brothers are close, but not that close. When I first came here, I thought it would be just an adventure, I didn't realize there would be so much more to gain from it. You guys." The redhead confessed, and her friends smiled at her. They all came together in a tight embrace, warmth radiating off each other's skin. Not physical warmth (that would exclude Jack), but warmth from the heart.

* * *

**I'm expanding to different genres! See? Family! I think...Review! ~Jess**


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